


Mimic

by synomous01



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Defenders (Marvel TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Hurt Frank Castle, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-03-02 03:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 58,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13309050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synomous01/pseuds/synomous01
Summary: A series of crimes happening in Hell's Kitchen have left the NYC cops on edge. Witnesses point the culprit to be Spider-Man. Now, not only are the cops on the hunt for the young hero, but the silent protectors in Hell's Kitchen are after him as well. To make matters worse, a most dangerous man has stepped back into the spotlight, and he is out to put Spider-Man in a body bag.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Spiderman (or any of the marvel universe characters) - though it would be amazing if I did
> 
> Spoilers for Marvel’s Defenders, The Punisher, Daredevil, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. if you haven't watched those series yet
> 
> Might want to read: Of Choices and Tribulations, but can be read standalone too.

**Peter Parker / Spider-Man**

Peter learned a short while ago that getting shot was not something he wanted to experience again.  It seemed, though, the Universe was _not_ listening to him.  But when has it? He felt like he never really could catch a break.  Not mention that this dude that was shooting at him, he had freaky good aim.  If Peter didn’t have his spidey sense to give him advanced warning, he’d have been dead thrice over.  And this wasn’t to sound morbid at all, but just the plain truth.  “Geez, does the guy ever run out of ammo?” Wondered Peter aloud, as he twisted to his body at the last minute to dodge yet another string of fire.  Peter seriously needed to get off this rooftop like yesterday.

_Pftt._

_Pftt_.

Another two bullets whizzed by Peter’s head, ones that were way too close for comfort.  Suddenly, there was a noticeable gap in the firing, something that hadn't happened for a while.

_Gotta move, Parker._

Peter was pretty sure the guy wasn't giving him a break but rather the shooter finally had to reload.  

_“I recommend you take advantage of his reloading and make a break for it, Peter,”_ said Karen, interrupting his thoughts.

“It’s like you read my mind, Karen,” said Peter as he made ready to take off from the rooftop.  

This, however, was rudely interrupted when a figure, poised in a fighting stance, landed in front of him.  

The man slowly rose up and approached Peter with caution.  In the dim light, Peter could make out a deep crimson armour like suit.  

_Whoa, no way.  Was this the infamous Devil of Hell’s Kitchen_ ? thought Peter excitedly, momentarily forgetting the dangerous situation he was in.  Wow, wait till he told Ned about this at school, he'd be stoked.  Daredevil, the man who worked in the shadows, fighting and protecting the people of Hell's Kitchen with his lightning ninja fast reflexes.  But wait... since when did the guy have a glowing fist?

“Um, are you Daredevil?” He asked hesitantly as the glowy fist guy got closer to him.

“'Cause, I’ve always wanted to meet him.  Upstanding guy, protects the people.  Sure, he wears devil’s horns, but you know, I’m sure he did that to be a intimidating.  Cause you know, costumes are important.”  Peter knew he was rambling a bit but he couldn’t help it, especially when he was feeling nervous, his eyes darting every so often to the man’s glowing fist.

“No, I am the Iron Fist. Protector of K'un-Lun. Sworn enemy of the Hand,” the man stated, still closing in the distance as Peter backed away each step the man took.

_Iron Fist?_ _Well, that explained the lit fist, sorta.  K’un-Lun, what was that?  And the Hand... okay... Most important thing was, was he a friendly?_

“You should not be here, Spider-Man, not after you have caused so many deaths,” he continued in a solemn tone.  

Peter swallowed thickly at the accusation.   _I’m innocent!  Why, and how could I even think about hurting anyone?_

Yet of course they didn't know any of this, that it was Peter Parker behind the Spider-Man mask.  They likely now saw him like one of the Inhumans who had lost control, gone mad.  Or a heartless killer who had cold-bloodedly trapped and killed over a hundred people at an Elderly Home New Years Eve party.  Setting the home ablaze and then sealing all the exits shut with his webbing.  According to the news, only a handful made it out, and half of them were in critical condition.  When May had seen that news, she had looked at Peter, with eyes that saw through any crazy ideas he had.  "Peter, you go anywhere near Hell's Kitchen, you're grounded for life.  Understand?"

Peter had nodded and promised.

Clearly he had broken it, and he could only hope to actually make it back home to be grounded for life.   

**6 Hours Ago**

**Peter Parker / Spider-Man**

While Chemistry class was usually pretty interesting for Peter, his mind was focused elsewhere.  Things weren’t going great in terms of his Spider-Man reputation, especially with the cops in Hell’s Kitchen pointing fingers at Spider-Man being a murderer.  Sure there was a fair share of defenders in Queens for Spidey, the local neighbourhood protector for the little guys, but there were also those that joined hands with the Manhattan police, calling Spider-Man a menace and a two-faced killer.  

_Killer_.  Peter had never in his life thought anyone would ever think of him as one.  

“Hey, Peter, here” Ned said as he placed a few fluid containers on the lab desk.

“It wasn’t me, Ned.  I wouldn’t hurt anyone,” said Peter in a hushed tone.

Ned looked at him slight confused and taken aback for a moment.  Then he suddenly realized what Peter was talking about.

“Um, of course not! I know that for a fact. And you were in Algebra class with me, remember?  Last I checked you don’t have the power to be in two places at once... um.. Do you?

“No, I don’t, Ned.”

“Ah, cool, I knew that.  Was just checking.”

“I meant the arson --”

“Peter, you always spend New Years Eve with your Aunt.  She’d be the witness if they ever ask, but you know, they won’t ever because they don’t know that your secret identity.”  Then in a quieter voice, he added, “Besides, I _know_ you Peter.  You wouldn’t hurt anyone, ever.  Don’t let those news people make you think otherwise. 

“Thanks Ned.”  Peter felt relief. He needed that.  He knew that Ned would always be on his side, but there was always that inkling of fear, that everyone he cared about would turn his back on him one day.  

Peter took one of the containers that Ned placed on the table and began to mix two chemicals in it, when suddenly, Principal Morita entered their classroom.  He spoke softly to the teacher who nodded, his face very serious.

“Miss Brant?  Can you please come with me to my office?” asked Mr. Morita

Betty looked surprised at the request, but she nodded and set flask she was holding down and followed Mr. Morita.  

Once she left the room, there was immediate noise, whispers. 

“Oh what’s going on?” 

“Did she do something?”

“I heard her dad’s a bus driver.”

“Wait, you think he’s on _that_ bus?”

“Yeah”

“That must suck.  Bomb and all.”

“Yeah.” 

What the heck was going on, wondered Peter.  By instinct, he slipped his cellphone out of his pocket checked for any breaking news notifications.  And just as he feared, the top story on twitter was a bomber had rigged a bus to explode.  

Peter immediately clicked on the link for further details on it; Ned also curious, read it with him.  

There was apparently a bomber in Queens that decided to use an idea he’d seen in a movie and make it a reality.  Seriously, even Peter knew things shouldn’t be taken literally, especially from television!  They had caught the man, but the problem didn’t end there.  The bomber had rigged the bus to explode the moment it dropped in momentum, and at the moment it was going at 150 miles per hour.  They had cleared a route for the bus to keep going, but they had made a little mistake in their calculations, and the path hit a road that was under construction.  Oddly enough, Peter recalled that happening in the movie too.  Okay, maybe the cops need to watch more movies than the bad guys in this case.  

Peter knew that things were not good in terms of Spider-Man’s reputation with Hell’s Kitchen, but a. He had nothing to do with the murders or the arson that had happened and b. He was in Queens.  And c, those people on the bus, their lives were at stake. 

Peter had promised his aunt May he wasn’t going to Hell’s Kitchen anytime soon and he wasn’t breaking it.  The cops in Queens, they were defending him, they knew Spider-Man was a good person.  Mr. Stark’s voice popped into his head, though, like a little reminder, “There are people who can handle this.  Let them.”  Yes, it was true, they had a bomb squad heading up with the bus.  But at 150 miles per hour, it was going to be dangerous for the person.  Whereas for Spider-Man, he could just cling to the bus, crawl under there easily and just diffuse the bomb.

Peter looked at his friend who nodded in understanding,  “Go for it Peter.  And be careful.”

Peter nodded, “Thanks.”

It was during class time, so he had to get a Hall Pass.  Peter only hoped he could get back quick enough to avoid doing detention for skipping class.  But it really was a small price to pay if he saved those people on the bus.

Once he’d gotten to an alleyway and changed into his Spider-Man suit, he immediately asked Karen to tell him where to find that bomb squad team.  Spider-Man was great at a lot of things, but his knowledge in diffusing a bomb was slim to none.  Peter knew he could rely on Karen to do that, but if he made an error because he didn’t seek help when there was help available, then if things went south, it would be his fault.  If left with no other options, he would go with Karen and solve it, but Peter had the NYC Bomb Squad as a resource.  Not using them would be foolish - even though he was not exactly on their friend list at the moment.  Karen, out of concern, also reminded him of it more than once as he made his way to the location provided by the A.I.

To say the meeting was awkward, was an understatement.  The Bomb Squad had just readied to head out when Peter, as Spider-Man showed up to offer help.  They had discussed it in hushed tones.  After a moment, they reached a consensus, that the lives of those on the bus was more important at the moment than catching Spider-Man for a crime based on circumstantial evidence.  Quickly, the bomb squad team briefed Spider-Man on what he needed to do and then handed him a cell phone.  This way they could communicate and also Spider-Man could send them a live image of the bomb, to ensure that they were cutting the correct wires to diffuse it.

Once briefed, Peter asked Karen approximately where the bus was and he was off in an instant.

Things had gone according to Peter’s plan as he easily landed on the roof of the vehicle, despite it going at such high speed.  If Peter didn’t have the mask on, he was sure he would have felt the skin on his face pull back - like being on a rollercoaster.  Except this was nowhere near fun.  The route, Peter could see, was definitely ending soon, just past the bridge there was some construction and the bus would be forced to make a turn, which in turn would slow the car down.  Peter had to act fast.

As he made his way towards the base of the bus, his presence was made known to the passengers on the bus.  “Oh, Hey guys,” he said waving in a friendly manner.  They were all astonished though they didn’t seem all that happy to see him.   _They probably think I’m up to something bad.  But like Ned said, don’t let the news affect me.  I am who I am._

When Peter crawled under the bus, _belch_ , boy did it smell bad!  Ignoring the smell, he focused his eyes on what appeared to be a sizable innocuous object attached to the middle of the bus.  Karen also confirmed it was the bomb and told him to proceed with caution, but also quickly as according to her calculation, the bus was reaching the end of its straight route.   

Nodding to noone in particular, Peter moved quickly and was suddenly underneath the bomb.  As the bomb squad had told him, he unclipped the phone from his side and called them.  Once they connected, Peter showed them a visual of the bomb using the phone. 

There was a flurry of noise as they discussed it between them, all the while, Peter couldn’t help but ask Karen’s opinion.  Which wire should he cut?  There were three options, white, black or red.  

As Peter expected, Karen gave him the highest statistics based on the model and make of the bomb.  This, however, was assuming that the bomber hadn’t tampered with it.  Karen said the red wire.  Peter, however, waited. Hesitant.  It was a statistics.  Probabilities.  He should cut it.  But he couldn’t, not even when the A.I. reminded him, they were closing in on that turn.  Beads of sweat formed on Peter’s forehead, he could feel himself sweat underneath the mask.   _Come on guys, just tell me what to do._ Peter was scared, not for himself, but for the occupants of the bus.  If he made the wrong choice, they all died.   _Patience_ , his inner voice spoke up.   _Let the experts do their job_.  That last part definitely sounded like Mr. Stark’s advice, but the man's advice hadn't been wrong in the past, and it wasn't wrong in the present either.  Peter had lots to learn and going solo wasn’t always the best way.

“The black one,” the voice said over the phone. 

Peter, with his heart thumping against his chest, listened, and snapped the black wire.  Almost instantly, the bomb shut down, the red lit timer went black.  Relief flooded over Peter as he relayed to the squad that the bomb had been diffused.  Now, Peter just had to tell the bus driver he could finally hit the brakes.  

But if only life could ever be easy for Spider-Man.  While there were cheers on the bus, after Peter gave them okay sign, the bus driver started crying out that the brakes were out.  Given the speed they were going at, there was no way they could make the turn without the bus flipping.  Evacuating the people wasn’t an option either, there was too many, and there were young children and babies on board as well.  Peter knew the only way was to stop the bus and he had to do it fast.  

“Okay guys, I’m going to stop the bus, so you guys will have to come to the front here, and hold on real tight.  Don’t let go, okay?  The bus might flip vertically. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” he said through the open window by the driver’s side.

The passengers on the bus nodded and quickly hurried to follow his instructions, the stronger folks blocking and securing the children and babies from harm.   

“Good luck, Spider-Man,” the driver said once everyone was in position.  

Peter nodded, “Thanks, Man.  See you in a bit.”  Just as he started to make his way to the front hood of the bus, he saw a picture on the dashboard.  Betty Brant and the driver.   _This **is** her dad _ , thought Peter.   _Don’t worry, Betty, he’s coming home today._

He crawled to the top of the front hood and swung himself several meters ahead of the bus, and rapidly fired his web shooters to literally form a shield.  The shield was backup reinforcement as he braced himself to stop the bus coming at him at full speed.  And boy was it approaching fast.   _You’ve got this, Peter!_

Just as Peter suspected as he gripped tightly onto the hood of the bus, the bus flipped vertically.  There were cries in the bus, but more of being startled, not of pain.  This lasted for a minute, maybe more, but once it flipped vertically, the wheels of the bus had nothing to keep its momentum.  The web shield that Peter had put up, helped keep the bus from completely flipping over.  There were cheers within the bus, and Peter smiled in relief, as Karen spoke in his comm, “That was a close one, Peter.  Another minute or so it would have been forced to turn.  Good job.” 

“Thanks Karen,” said Peter as he released his hold on the bus and slowly moved to settle it back in a horizontal position.

“Hey, everyone okay in there?”

“We’re good, thanks Spider-Man!”  Peter was glad they were all smiling, and grateful.  He was worried at the darkened expressions they had initially when he had appeared.  

Sirens in the background, Peter knew the authorities were on their way.  Although they had called it a truce because they needed him to help him, Peter didn’t want to press his luck that this time the cops may decide otherwise.  Besides, he still needed to get back to Chemistry class... “Karen, what time is it?” 

“If you mean to ask if you can make it back to Chemistry class without being detected, I am afraid 4th period has already started."  Great.  Physics class was on, that meant the Chem teacher probably had a write up on him already.  Peter let out an inward sigh.  

Yet looking at the passengers who were now safe and sound, an hour of detention on Saturday wasn’t that bad.  With a last look to check that everyone was okay as they exited the vehicle, Peter made his quick exit from the scene.

*** 

Peter ended up with two pink slips, one for Chem and on for Physics.  So two hours of detention was up for him, and he got that look from MJ as he walked in late for Physics.  She looked at him with such knowing eyes, like she _knew_ his secret or something.   _Bit paranoid much, Peter?_

Meanwhile Flash was still being the asshat he was, snorted as Peter walked passed him after the teacher gave him a talk.

Peter chose to ignore Flash, since he had other things on his mind.  Throughout the class, he browsed news on what authorities were saying about Spider-Man playing a part in rescuing the bomb strapped bus.  But there was _nothing_ on it.  Not a word.  All that was said was the Bomb squad team managed to deal with the incident and that everyone was safe.   _What the heck was going on?_  Was he on a news blackout or something?  Was saying that he did anything good taboo?  Was Spider-Man a name that could not be said, like that Voldomort guy from Harry Potter? 

Yet evidence of him being at the bus scene was available on youtube, as one of the passengers had used his/her phone to record Spider-Man as he stopped the bus from crashing.  The comments below, however, to Peter’s dismay were outcries of “Fake”, “he’s a murderer!”, “killer”, “He’s putting on a show!”, “Fake news!”. 

Feeling upset, Peter didn’t want to read anymore of the negative comments, the accusations, so closed his laptop and forced himself to focus in class.   _I’m not the bad guy!_  Tears burned in his eyes, but he refused to shed them.   _I’m not the bad guy_ , he repeated to himself, almost like a mantra.

When the final bell rang, Peter left without a word, not even to Ned who looked surprised at his mood.

Ned followed him all the way to the lockers, concern on his face.  Peter tried to hold his emotions back, he didn’t want to be upset.  He did good, that was what mattered.  But seeing those comments on him, still claiming that he was a killer, a murderer, it _hurt_.  It was like someone had socked him in the stomach.

“Hey, Peter, you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said quietly, not looking at his friend, focusing on putting his books away and switching out what he needed for his homework that night.

“You don’t seem okay.  I saw the news coverage... they’re just being asses, Peter.  You know you helped, and those people, they know you saved them!”

“It’s... it’s not that Ned,” Peter finally made eye contact with his best friend.  “They’re calling me a killer.  A murderer.  Even though I’m doing good, they’re fixing the story, hiding the truth.  It makes me so... frustrated,” he said, his fist balling up in anger. 

“I think it’s because with the Inhumans thing that has been popping up, they’re just being paranoid.” 

“Just because they're an Inhuman, it doesn’t make them evil, Ned.” 

“I _know_ that, but a lot of people don’t.  Their reputation hasn’t been the best either.” 

“Only because they haven’t learned to control their powers, that’s all.  It took me time too.”

“You have to admit, a lot of them went kind of nutso too.” 

“Not all of them.  Daisy Johnson... “

“Quake? She’s pretty,” said Ned with a blush.

"She turned out okay.”

“Well, statistically speaking... anyway, I’m just saying, like earlier, don’t let those ignorant people get to you, Peter.  I know, May and Mr. Stark know and trust you’re not some psychotic arsonist.  You don’t need to prove to anyone else that.  Maybe lay low for a bit.  They’ll come to their senses.”

Peter finished packing his books and nodded.  “Maybe you’re right.  I should lay low.  They’ll realize that I have nothing to do with it.”

And Laying low was exactly what Peter had planned to do.  

That evening, however, Peter’s hand was forced to do otherwise, and Hell’s Kitchen suddenly became his eventual destination.


	2. Chapter 2

 

“Aunt May?” called out Peter as he entered the apartment.   _Nope, not home yet_ , thought Peter when he heard no response.  He headed to his room and started to toss out the contents of his backpack.  Time to do homework.  Normally, Peter wouldn’t even be home, instead he would have been out patrolling as Spider-Man.  But what he and Ned last talked about stayed on Peter’s mind.  Spider-Man had to lay low and let the media outlets be as they were; let bygones be bygones basically.  Eventually they’d figure out that he had nothing to do with the murders or arson going on in Hell’s Kitchen.  Question was _when_ and if afterwards, things would go back the way they were.

Upsetting as everything was, Peter had to learn to accept that being a superhero wasn’t always glamorous.  It was like two sides of a coin, one side would love heroes like the Avengers and Spider-Man, and the other would scorn them for even existing.  The best example was Mr. Stark.  After all he had done for the world, and all they could do was tear him down on the mistakes he had done, all of which were just his attempts to protect the world. What Quinn Sharpe had vocalized, about his loss, Peter understood about that.  But things happened to people, real bad things, but no matter what, you don’t take vengeance by trying to hurt innocent people.  There was a difference, though – the hateful scientist was willing to kill innocent people to prove a point while Mr. Stark was forced to sacrifice losing people because of a mistake done in trying hard to keep the world safe.  Intention made a huge difference.

Did any of these people even think about the difficulties superheroes faced on a day to day basis was something Peter wondered sometimes.  They were human like them afterall – well, the exception being Thor and Vision. Mr. Stark almost died in saving everyone in the battle of New York during the invasion.  All the while some highter authority had been willing to nuke New York City to prevent a global event.

People have come to just expect far too much from people with powers, that was Peter’s conclusion.  The irony was Mr. Stark, didn’t even have super powers, he was just a brilliant inventor who was willing to step up to the plate.  This was made Tony Stark of a hero than anyone else, a man vulnerable to the elements but willing to put his life on the line to save others.  Sometimes, Peter didn’t think Mr. Stark knew that about himself at all.  Under all that bravado, Peter could see that Mr. Stark felt deeply about the lives lost, and it was likely the very reason why he had signed the Sokovia Accords.

Peter had learned about it at school, and he was divided on it.  In some ways he was glad he hadn’t signed up to be an Avenger because he wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment.  He trusted Mr. Stark, but beyond that, he didn’t like the feeling of being controlled by someone he didn’t know.  This General Ross, that he had overheard Mr. Stark talk about with Happy once when Peter had arrived early for a Guardians Initiative meeting sounded like a bit of an asshat.  So, while he admired Mr. Stark for his willingness to be held accountable, but the Accords, to Peter it just sounded like a tether to stop freedom of choice. So in some ways he understood why Captain America and the other Avengers decided not to sign it.  It meant being ruled under the iron thumb of the government and following their orders, be it correct or not.  

In honesty, Peter had thought Cap would have signed, but he it was likely after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. a few years ago that really changed the hero’s view on authority.  Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. for years, like a disease that slowly festered and eventually corrupted what should have been the first defense for threats.  Then there was the In-humans situation that suddenly started spreading wide spread panic.

Today though, Peter was going to do the mature thing, lay low, and let the authorities handle it.  It was tough doing that, but he promised his aunt May after what happened at Pharmax, he was going to be extra careful.  In fact, Peter was lucky that she still even let him do his patrols.  In some ways maybe not having him in the news today for saving those people on the bus was a good thing.  Peter didn’t want to stress his aunt out since he was already had a painted target on him.  

The two weeks he was out of commission about the incident at Pharmax had given May more than a dozen white hairs, or so she claimed.  But Peter didn’t doubt there was truth to that.  He’d almost died, and it was by a miracle of his self-healing that he had survived.  Peter didn’t really want to test his luck again.  It was hard not to just head out there, it had become so routine, so the only way to keep him from doing so was to focus on homework.  Usually he would have been busying himself with some challenges from the _Guardians Initiative_ group chat, but things had been pretty quiet since Mr. Stark went dark due to some important talks with General Ross.  Peter had to wondered if it did have something to do with the _Guardians Initiative_ , maybe the Ross guy wasn’t too happy with his mentor’s plans.

It was about six thirty when Peter received a call from his Aunt May.

“Peter, sorry, I won’t be able to come home until later tonight, I need to work late.  Will you be alright microwaving the food I left in the fridge for you?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s great Aunt May.  Don’t worry about me, and don’t work too hard.”

“Thanks Peter.  I larb you.”

“Larb you too, May,” said Peter with a smile as he hung up on his cell.

The reminder from his Aunt May about dinner made Peter realize he hadn’t eaten since lunch.   _I guess too much distraction isn’t a good thing,_ he thought ruefully when his stomach suddenly rumbled in hunger.  He headed towards the kitchen and opened the fridge.   _Mmmm, leftover Thai!  Larb you, May!_  It was one of his favorites, pad thai.  Aunt May must have ordered extra for takeout, oh and shrimp chips on the side.  No doubt a little extra the owner added on.  

The incident at Pharmax had put May in a bad position, where she had to work late some days to make up the time she had taken off extra for staying by Peter’s side when he was hurt.  Peter let out an inward sighed.  He seriously was such a troublemaker.  There were times when he thought maybe if he wasn’t around, his aunt May could live a better life.  She wouldn’t need to work so hard all the time.

The microwave beeped interrupting his gloomy thoughts.  The sweet and spicy aroma of the rice noodles filled the apartment and Peter’s not so awesome day felt just that little better.  It was amazing how good food could change a person’s mood.  The shrimp crackers were also done as well in the toaster oven.  Placing the food carefully on the coffee table in the living room, Peter sank into the sofa and switched on the television.

The main thing on TV, unsurprising to Peter, was about the bus with the bomb strapped on to it.  While in most cases, there would interviews with the witnesses/passengers involved in the incident, the media outlets glossed over it and kept pushing how the New York Bomb Squad was pivotal in saving the passengers of the bus.   _Well, that part was true._ If it hadn’t been for them, Peter wouldn’t have been able to diffuse the bomb.

Tired of seeing the same thing being pretty much reported on every channel, Peter flipped through the channels until he finally found an old movie that was playing _;  Back to the Future_.  A classic and quite mindless fun movie that if you put too much thought into it, it wouldn’t make sense.  Afterall, paradoxes in time travel had an astronomical effect.

Peter was barely into first half of the movie when suddenly a breaking news story interrupted it.  Footage of a hospital building completely ablazed made him stop in mid bite on the shrimp cracker in his hand.

“We’re here live in Hell’s Kitchen at the Metro-General Hospital where a sudden fire has broken out in the facility.  Fireman are having difficulty entering the building which seems to have multiple entries, including entire windows, being sealed off by sort of webbing,” spoke a news woman.  “Emergency dispatch has called in for helicopters to the rooftops to help with the evacuation process.  Authorities have also arrived on scene and in search of the perpetrator Spider-Man.”

_Oh no, the guy who had started that fire at the old age home, he was back,_ thought Peter feeling disheartened.  People were trapped in that hospital by that monster that people thought was Peter.  But it wasn’t just that, it was the struggle that Peter could see in the firemen as they tried to hack through this webbing.  It wasn’t normal and the most worrisome bit was that the fire was spreading fast.  Peter, he had to do _something_.  He had the ability, he could get in there.  Swing in and out.

“There are people who can handle this.  Let them.”  The words from Mr. Stark came at him again.  This was different though.  People would die if Peter didn’t do something, the firemen, they newswoman said they couldn’t get in.  Karen would be able to help him scan for people and he would get them out.   _Peter, promise me you won’t do anything to put your life at risk like that again._  Aunt May was referring to the Pharmax incident.  It had been bad… he had to admit he still had some nightmares about it, but in the end, Peter wouldn’t have changed a thing he did.  But he did promise his aunt that he wouldn’t put himself in harms way again.  But this… this was something he couldn’t ignore.  Peter wasn’t a normal person, he had powers, and with it, he had a responsibility to use it to help people.   _Sorry Aunt May_ , he thought silently as he went and changed into his Spider-Man suit.   _Don’t worry, though, I’ll be careful, promise._

***

The scene at Metro-General Hospital was nothing short of horrific.   Peter could feel the heat even from the opposite side of the building.  The most disconcerting thing wasn’t just the heat though, it was the so-called webbing that was described by the reporter earlier on TV.  It didn’t show the true extent of how much of the building was covered in it.  It was a thin layer, characteristic of a spider’s web, but it had a metallic sheen to it.  How the heck did whoever caused this fire manage to cover the building with it?

“Karen, what is that stuff?”

“If you are referring to the webbing that is around the building, its components follow the similar composites of a spider’s web, however, it also contains a metallic alloy in it.”

“Is this the reason why people can’t get out? The webbing, it solidifies?”

“That is correct, Peter.”

“How solid is solid, Karen?”

“You would be able to break through it, but it will require much effort.”

“Okay, that’s good news, I guess.  Um.  What’s the best way to get in there?  Do you how bad the situation is now?”

“The source of the fire appears to be on the 11th floor, but secondary and tertiary ones have also been set.  The fire has spread exponentially throughout the hospital’s top floors.”

_God, this was really bad,_ thought Peter.

“Firemen have finally gained access to the lobby of the hospital, and emergency helicopters are on their way.

“Karen, which floor won’t the firemen get to in time?”

“The people on the 11th floor is the most unlikely to be rescued in time.”

“Are there any survivors on that floor?” asked Peter feeling sick to his stomach as he waited for the A.I.’s answer.

“There is a large number and they are in imminent danger.  The fire is spreading rapidly and the structural integrity for the floor in general is not faring well. Peter, if you intend on entering the building, I would advise you against it.  Not only are there cops in the area who are searching for a person of your description, but there is a 30 percent chance --”

“No no, thanks Karen, I think I’m good with statistics today.  Just tell me the best way to get in there to help the people on the 11th,” said Peter hurriedly.  He didn’t need the A.I. to tell him that going in a blazing building was a bad idea.  Or that he could get shot _again_ , but this time by legit authorities, not a psychopath fixed on vengeance.

“The best entry would be the northside, but it is a very small entry point,” said Karen.

“Thanks, Karen, appreciate it.”

“No problem, Peter.”

_Now to get to the northside window, this is going to be hard_ , thought Peter.  There was a massive amount of coverage, every newscast was focused on the hospital.  Peter just needed a small window of distraction so he could make it to the hospital side undetected.  

And like that it came, though it wasn’t something that Peter had hoped for.  An explosion erupted on the east side hospital, causing debris to fall.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” said Peter as he thwipped over to the building and crawled towards the northside window entrance Karen guided him to.  To Peter’s luck, this little tiny window hadn’t been sealed off by metallic webs.  But wow, Karen had not kidding about how small entry window was.  Thankfully, Peter was small enough just to fit through it.   Since all the coverage was focused at the otherside of the building, Peter was allowed to really swing in with full momentum.  Once inside, Peter instantly felt the blazing heat and smoke.

“Karen, where are the survivors located?”

“There are several clusters, however, the largest one is ahead of you, approximately 400 meters, make a left,” the A.I. said softly.  

“Stupid question, Karen, but are the elevators by any chance working?”

“They are not.  Those exists including the staircases have are blocked by the fire I would advise not to use those routes.”

“I guess the window is the only way out?”

“Yes, that would be the best course of action, Peter.”

_Great, fire starter Spider-Man wannabe really did think this through.  Now to find those survivors…_

As he moved forward suddenly a crash occurred behind him.  That couldn’t be good.  Karen confirmed it a moment later, “I’m afraid the entry in which you came in from is no longer a possible exit.”

_Super._

Peter moved quickly, using his spidey senses to guide him from anything blocking in his way.  Finally he reached the room, and he opened it and nearly got hit with a metal tray.  Thankfully, he sensed it in time and dodged it.

“Hey, hey, I’m here to help,” he started, but was met again with another defensive attack.  Normally Peter would have spent more time reasoning, but time wasn’t a luxury they had.

Peter fired his web-shooter and stuck the metal tray to the wall, startling the woman.  “Get away from us!  Haven’t you done enough?”

“No no no,” said Peter quickly, holding up his hands.  “I’m just here to help you guys get out.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so, Spider-Man.  I _saw_ you start that fire,” said the woman, her eyes narrowing as she stood on defense.

The lady definitely knew self-defense and was ready to try again.  But then again, Peter wouldn’t blame her, especially when she claimed to have seen the perpetrator up close.

 

Peter seriously wanted to ask more questions, but the sound of heavy coughing in the background drew him back to his priorities.  Questions would have to come later.

“Look.. um.. Nurse Temple?” He said, looking at the ID that was clipped to her scrubs, “I’d actually really want to know more about what you saw, but we _really_ need to get out of here.”

Peter didn’t want to be pushy, but it didn’t help that Karen was also giving him a play by play of structural damage and how dangerous it was for them to remain in the building.

“Hey guys,” said Peter, moving past her and scanning the room.  There were at least over 60 people easily.  Some were bedridden, but many of them were able bodied.  Only one was seriously ill, connected to all sorts of devices.

How to get them out, was what Peter had to figure out.  Even from his standpoint, he could see the web almost like a crystalized formation and it looked… like it melded into the window itself.  Any other time, he’d have been more intrigued to find out the science behind it.  It looked like some people had attempted to make a dent into the window but only managed to make small cracks.

“Can you guys give me a little room, going to see if I can get this window opened for you for some fresh air,” said Peter trying to give a little quip to ease the tension.  It didn’t work as he was met with stony silence and no movement.  It wasn’t until the nurse that had nearly hit Peter with the tray told them to make room did they listen.  How she decided that Peter wasn’t a threat, he didn’t know, but he would have to ask about that later.

Peter picked up the sofa which drew a gasp by the people around him, and as hard as he could, he struck it against the glass.  A big crack crack appeared.  Peter struck again, and again, and finally the fourth time, it gave way.  Though it had shattered, not all of it came down, just pieces that hadn’t melded into the metallic web.  But it was enough for fresh air to come in and for the smoke to escape.

This was only a piece of the grand problem.  They were still trapped in there.

“Peter, structural damage is imminent, you should hurry,” said Karen sounding very urgent.

“Karen, are there anymore people on this floor?”

“There is four other clusters, they are in different Wings.  You must hurry if you want to get to them in time.”

“Got it, hurrying.”

Peter lifted the sofa again and tried to hit the metal web structure, but no results came from it, not even a dent.   _And yet it looks so flimsy, but it’s not._ He needed more momentum, just as how he managed to get in the building in the first place.  Peter was going to try and slingshot himself, though there wasn’t exactly that much room for him to build that same velocity.  But then the thought came to him - the shorter the web, and the further he stretched it, he should be able create something similar.

He shot his web-shooters, his left to one beam that supported the window he had just shattered, and the right to another one – him in the middle of it, just like a slingshot.  Holding on to web tightly, Peter walked backwards, away from the window as far as he could, and even past the doorway.  The heat was overbearing, and Karen thankfully helped him by giving him approximately how many steps he had left before he’d be backed against a fiery wall.

Finally, Peter reached his maximum distance.   _Here goes it!_ And he let himself fly forward.  There was a shock gasp as he flew past the occupants in the rec room, as he approached the metal web barrier, he made sure to have his feet planted firmly against it.   _Please work, please work!_

It didn’t work exactly as Peter expected, but he felt it a slight crack _.  Okay.  That was good._   Peter didn’t waste a second before he launched the same slingshot action again, hitting the exact same spot.  This time, Peter felt a noticeable change.   _Yes.  One more time_ , he thought.

The last one did the trick, the barrier broke, giving way to a small opening.  A blast of cool air entered the room and also at the same time allowed smoke to finally find a way out.

Peter quickly inspected the web barrier that he had just broken through, and he saw that once there was a central crack to the web, the rest of it came off easier.  Using this newly gained knowledge, he bent the remaining metallic webbing to make a larger opening.

Now to get everyone out, Peter saw the best way was to get them to the opposite building rooftop.  Peter knew he could carry maybe 2 or three people max on him each time, and he had to do it fast.  Karen too agreed with his assessment; lowering them down, would take too long.  Catching the authorities attention at the moment was a terrible idea since they were hunting for fire starter Spider-Man guy.

“Okay guys, I’m going to get you guys across to the next building.”

The words how were clearly on everyone’s faces.  Peter smiled sheepishly, though he doubt they could see him do that under his mask, “Hang on to me, and I’ll get you across.”

“Hurry everyone, let’s get going,” said Nurse Temple, her face was no nonsense.  “You can trust him.   _Hurry_.”

First three kids hung on to Peter.  Now he knew how it felt like to be at a kid’s party, lots of this sort of thing.   _I should consider doing this for a summer job_ , thought Peter.

“Alright kiddies, hang on tight,” though he said that, in truth, he had a tight grip on them.

And then he swung out of the hospital window.  God it was amazing how fresh air smelled.  In a few seconds he was at the opposite roof top.  The kids cheered for a moment, but then grew somber as they realized their parents were still in the burning building.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to get them, promise.”

In a minute, he returned with one set of parents.  Peter did this swinging back and forth as fast as he could, carrying equipment as well at the same time.  Everything was going well until the helicopters showed up.   _Why is it always authorities on helicopters that threatened to shoot me?_ Thought Peter with a bit irony.  Seriously not his luck at all.

“Spider-Man, stop what you’re doing, or we will be forced to shoot!”

“Ah come on guys,” said Peter aloud in mid-swing, “Can’t you see I’m trying to rescue people?”

Nope, didn’t seem like they cared as another shout came out.

“One last warning, Spider-Man.  Stop what you’re doing, or we’ll shoot!”

There was only the nurse Temple and one very ill girl she was staying behind with.  Peter was _not_ leaving them there.

_Just don’t get shot_ , Peter reminded himself.

Peter swung back in and just missing a shot fired at him.   _These guys, come on!_

As he entered through the window, Peter could see things had really heated up inside, no pun intended.  The ceiling was literally lit and on fire.  This wouldn’t have happened if Peter hadn’t been preoccupied with dodging that helicopter.  Every second counted now.

The Nurse, she was on the ground, coughing, along with the girl who was barely conscious.  She had been hooked up on the ventilators earlier, and the Nurse had wanted to keep the girl on it as long as possible.

Peter needed to get them out of there now.

“Hang on, we’re getting out of here,” he said, and then he shouted outside the building, “I’m bringing people out, please don’t shoot!”

Peter could almost feel them discussing this on the helicopter, and then there was clamoring below, and he knew that right now, he had the full attention of everyone in Hell’s Kitchen – cops, firemen and news media included.  So much for stealth mode, there was no way he was staying out of the news now.   _Sorry May,_ he thought ruefully. She was going to be _so_ mad.

Having conveyed his message to the trigger happy people on the helicopter, Peter only hoped they listened as he took hold of the child first, on a fireman’s carry and then the nurse on the other arm and leapt out the window in full swing.

_Here goes it_ , thought Peter in mid-air.

The swing out was okay, and Peter felt a moments relief, but sadly, it was short lived.  Apparently another helicopter had arrived and had just missed the don’t shoot memo.

A shot was fired.  There was cry on both sides, the one who fired it after realizing Spider-Man wasn’t solo, and Peter himself who had to do a last minute maneuver to shift the nurse so she wasn’t shot.  The bullet whizzed by, thankfully, but not before it grazed Peter’s arm.  Well.  At least he wasn’t shot shot.   _Flesh wound_.

_Mr. Stark would be so proud of me,_ thought Peter with a semi grin.  “ _Dodge the bullets, Peter”_ , was what Mr. Stark had said the last time he had been at the Avengers Compound for a _Guardians Orientation_ .  His mentor even said that when Natasha was back in town he was going to make sure Peter and she had a little training session.  It was too bad his mentor had been called away before that could have come to fruitation, because Peter was pretty excited to train with Natasha, _the_ Black Widow,, a legendary assassin!

The shift to take save the nurse also ended up forcing Peter to lose his grip on her.  She slipped from his hold and suddenly was falling – but only for a second.  Peter’s enhanced reflexes caught her with his hand.

“Hang on, Ms. Temple,” said Peter in a strained voice and then he swung her upwards and caught her by the waist.  Wasting no time, Peter used his web-shooters to anchor himself to another building to help him swing to the rooftop where the other patients from the hospital were on.

Peter landed in a less than stellar pose, but he didn’t tumble, which was a good thing.

“Ms. Temple, are you okay?” asked Peter worriedly as he checked to see if there any wounds on the nurse.

“I’m fine, Spider-Man,” she replied as she took the girl from Peter’s hold.  Then she added, “Are you okay?” her eyes falling on Peter’s right arm which he realized was bleeding freely.

“I’m okay, just a flesh wound,” which was true.  I did _not_ get shot, yay.  Grazed is not shot, at least by Peter’s definition.

The nurse nodded then added, “Let me take a look at it anyway, after I take care of Leo,” and she went to connect some machines up for the girl.

Peter took this time of distraction by the nurse to use his webbing to make a makeshift bandage and then asked, “Karen, the survivors in the building, what’s their status?”

“There are three groups, they appeared to have moved.  The fire has spread, however, Peter.  One group, however, the statistics of them surviving is very low.”

“Then we’ll have to chage those stats and get to them first,” said Peter with determination. “What’s the best way to get there?”

“You will need to access it from a floor above; there is apparently a caved ceiling, which will allow to drop down to the 11th level to reach them.”

By now, one of the two helicopters had started to approach the rooftop Peter and the rest of the rec room survivors were.   _Good.  They would be taken care of,_ thought Peter with relief.  As for himself, he had to brace himself to get back into that heat.

“Okay, here we go, Karen,” and then with one last glance at those on the rooftop, Peter twipped back to the hospital, this time, using the helicopter to help him swing over.

***

It hadn’t been an easy task getting to the other three groups of people, but it was well worth the effort.  Peter never felt so much relief in his life to find that he wasn’t too late to save any of them.  The last group that he got out, it had gotten really bad, where literally things were collapsing on them.  Peter at one point had to hold up a pillar so that the group could escape.  He was pretty sure his back shoulder was a bit singed from it though Karen had classified it as second-degree burns.  Semantics Peter would deal with later.

_Worth it,_ thought Peter as he started his way back home.  The night hadn’t turn out _that_ bad.  It sucked that he didn’t catch killer Spider-Man, Peter’s new code name for the guy, but hey, at least he had saved those people on the 11th floor.  Karen had said the others from the other levels, they had all been rescued.  Wins were good.

He had gone through a few swings and his back ached noticeably.   _Yeah, it would because it’s burned_.  Peter only hoped that it healed quickly enough so that his aunt May wouldn’t notice it.  The ache in his shoulders, however, only grew as he kept on swinging, so Peter finally decided to rest a moment on a random rooftop.

“Ouch, Karen, this burn really hurts.”

“I would recommend getting treatment, Peter.  Should I contact Tony?  He can have people in the med bay at the compound ready to treat your injuries.”

“No, no Karen, it’s fine.  It doesn’t hurt that bad,” said Peter hurriedly.  The last thing he needed to do was to interrupt Mr. Stark on something important because Peter himself couldn’t handle things.

“I’ll just use some of aunt May’s ointments, or you know, find that nurse I met earlier.”  At this point, Peter would have said anything to make sure Karen didn't make the call.

“Very well, Peter.”

Feeling relieved, Peter found himself a seat on the ledge of the rooftop.  This was a fairly quiet area, and far enough from the hospital that Peter felt safe enough from any authorities possibly looking for him.   _I’ll just rest here a bit,_ thought Peter.  He lifted his mask up slightly to get a bit of fresh air.  “Man, it’s nice to be able to breathe!” he said aloud.

“Hey, Karen, anything on the news outlets on catching the fire starter Spider-Man guy?”

“I’m afraid not, Peter.”

“Geez, what is up with this guy.  He’s hurting all these helpless people and I… I can’t do anything about it!” said Peter feeling upset at himself.

“You rescued a lot of people today, Peter.  You’re a hero in their eyes, and they will understand you and the killer are not the same.”

“It’s not that Karen, it’s that he’s still _out there_.  I don’t get it, how could no one notice this guy crawling around and webbing an entire hospital up like that?”

“That, I do not have the answer to.”

“Maybe surveillance tapes or some –“ and that instant, Peter’s spidey senses went haywire.  It literally screamed _move now_.  Peter by instinct listened to it, just a simple shift and that was when the bullet whizzed by him.

“Oh shit, what was that, Karen?” said Peter startled that he’d literally just missed a bullet.

“There is a sniper on the opposite side of the building.  I suggest you make haste to get off the rooftop as soon as possible.”

_Don’t have to tell me twice!_ Thought Peter as he slipped back his mask to fully cover his face.

And so that was what Peter had been trying to do until Iron Fist showed up.

“I can smell smoke from the fire you set tonight, Spider-Man,” continued Iron Fist guy who was growing more and more intimidating as his fist became more lit.

“I _was_ at the hospital, but it was after the fire started.  I was just there to help the people get out,” said Peter defensively.  He _was_ innocent and he was tired of the accusations and the people that just keep trying to shoot him!

“I don’t trust the words of a killer,” was the man’s response.

Peter had more to say, but felt his senses call out to him to get out.  The gunman had reloaded and he was ready to start his firing again.

“Sorry man, I really want to defend myself against well, pretty much everyone since they all think I’m some kind of killer.  But now I’ve got some trigger happy guy is kinda shooting for me right now, so I can’t really talk,” said Peter apologetically as he shot his web-shooter and webbed up Iron Fist’s hands to make his escape.

But even as he swung away, the shooter was _still_ on his tail.  What the hell?  Peter could feel that he was there, and proof came whenever he had to dodge the guy’s endless supply of bullets.  The person was predicting his moves, Peter realized.   _He must be thinking I’m heading back to Queens.  And there are only so many buildings I could use to swing from my origin point.  So… how the heck do I lose him?  And.. the other guy too._  Peter saw that not far behind was none other than Iron Fist, making the chase so much worse.

_Should I double back?_  “Karen, I need to lose those guys, I’ll be glad for any suggestions,” he said in mid-swing.

Peter, however, didn’t get a chance to hear Karen’s answer as he suddenly felt a shock that overloaded his senses.  The next thing he knew, he was falling, and falling fast.  He tried to shoot his web-shooters but it seemed jammed.  Peter realized that his suit was damaged somehow, especially when Karen didn’t seem to be responding to his fast descent.

Finally at the last minute his web-shooters worked again and Peter as able to anchor to something to slow his fall for a moment and then he released the webbing, unable to hold on to it.

Peter landed roughly in the alleyway and in an open dumpster.   _Ugh, gross_ , thought Peter, but he made no move to get up.  Everything stung and his head was swimming.   

It wasn’t until his spider senses literally screamed for him to get going, that Peter pushed himself to get out of the dumpster.  Though, that didn’t mean he got very far - just to the end of the alleyway – which was a dead-end. _What the heck was that?_ Wondered Peter. _Since when did Trigger happy guy have such sophisticated tech?_

“Check the alleyways, the Spider-Man might be hiding there,” said a man.

“Yes, Sir.  Guys, follow me!”

_Aw crap_ , thought Peter, _it’s the police!_  But hadn’t he proved it already that he was the good guy?  This night was so not going according to plan.

It must have been the cops on patrol for him that had shot him down with the electric tech, Peter deduced as he saw a cop ran past his hiding space with what looked like a taser gun of sorts.  The blaster definitely packed a punch since Peter’s head and body was still reacting to it; he seriously wanted to throw up.  The pad thai he had for dinner was suddenly not agreeing with him too much.

“Hey, I think I see him! He’s here guys!”

Peter pushed himself upright again, realizing he had slumped forward.  He seriously couldn’t dawdle around here.  He tried for Karen, to see if somehow the A.I. may have rebooted, but there was only silence.  Mr.  Stark wasn’t going to be happy that he damaged the suit again.  That of course shouldn’t be Peter’s greatest worry, afterall, he was about to be discovered by the cops.

The authorities that he had been prepared to face, however, didn’t show up.  Instead, they completely went past him.  Curious, Peter slowly left his hiding spot and peered out of the alleyway.  Clustered together in front of him on the streets were several cops with one pointing to the sides of the opposite building at what looked like... _no freaking way.  It couldn’t be._ But even Peter could not ignore what he saw, or really, it should have been _who_ he saw.

 

Himself - as Spider-Man.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys for the delay and thanks so much to those that left reviews and kudos! :)

**Claire Temple**

 

Claire had met her share of superheroes – the first being Daredevil, where she literally found him in an alleyway dumpster, injured and unconscious.  Yeah, it wasn’t the best introductory to the world of vigilantes at all, but it was the beginning of something she couldn’t have imagined.  Leaving Hell’s Kitchen and heading to Harlem after the crazy shit that happened at the hospital with zombie children and the death of her co-worker, Claire had thought she was finally going to lead a normal life.

She was wrong, but not in a bad way, at least not initially.  Claire met Luke Cage, the invincible man in her eyes.  And that was also quite in the literal sense.  The man had extreme strength, impenetrable skin, and a heart of gold.  It was hard to find someone like that, doing the right thing when everyone else around them weren’t.  Then one day, through Colleen Wing, a person she was training with for self-defense, Claire met Danny Rand – the heir to Rand Enterprises and also a guy who was suppose to be dead over a decade ago.  He returned apparently as the Immortal Iron Fist… and with a mission to destroy the Hand.   

Listening to Danny’s story, Claire knew that things were not going to be simple for her if she involved herself.   Aside from imminent danger to all of New York and possibly the world - she also was worried for her friend Colleen.   Her friend believed in this guy and was willing to follow him with however an absurd plan he came up with – and seriously, there was no  _ plan _ .  The Iron Fist was planning to rush head first into the situation, all the while calling out that he was the Immortal Iron Fist.  Very good.  You’re immortal, but Colleen isn’t.  So Claire brought in people she knew who could help – Luke and the Daredevil.  Luke in turn brought in Jessica and the rag tag team was formed.  Sure they didn’t communicate or even like each other, but it definitely evened the odds on their end by a bit.

In the end, team good guys won against the Hand, but not without sacrifice and loss.  Matt Murdock, alter ego of the Daredevil, died in the fight. From what Claire heard, Matt had kept Elektra occupied while the team made their escape.   It had been a bitter ending but it was an ending to what could have been even more devastating turn of events.  Claire could have lost Luke too, and that was something she didn’t want to fathom.

Claire had lay low for a bit while legal stuff – i.e. the murder of her coworker - was being handled by Foggy Nelson and his firm.  She had only returned to the Metro-General Hospital once everything was cleared up and was ready for normal routine stuff.  Yet even then, she wasn’t given much of a break before she was proven wrong, having to meet face to face with the killer known as Spider-Man.

When Claire had heard about this Spider-Man who was slicing and dicing open people and burning buildings, it made her confused.  None of it matched up with the stories on the news before, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, the do-gooder that sprouted up in Queens.  The 360 change in character had made her question what was hearing in the news, especially that of what was being reported by the Daily Bugle.

Claire had finished her break and was on her way back to the 11 th floor when she received a garbled text message from her friend Nora who shared the shift with her.  Claire had assumed pocket texting, something that she herself had been guilty of more than once.  When the elevator arrived on the 11 th floor, she had stepped out of it and felt an instant chill.  It was a strange one that crawled up her spine and made her feel on edge.   _ Feeling a bit paranoid today, aren’t we _ , Claire had thought then and shook off the feeling to continue walking down the hallway towards the storage room.   

Before she had gone on break, she had made a mental note to herself to restock the sheets and blankets.  Nora, her friend who was also on the same shift as her was seven months into her pregnancy and really could do without this sort of labor.  The storage room wasn’t too far from the elevator, so it made sense for Claire to start on that first before doing her rounds with the patients again.

Claire opened the door to the room, not bothering to switch on the lights since there was enough coming from the opened doorway, and started to take a few blankets and sheets from the shelf.  She was about to leave when she heard an unusual  _ blop _ sound, something she couldn’t quite place coming from behind her.  On reflex, she switched on the lights and nearly dropped what she was carrying in her arms.

There were bodies stacked on top of each other, their necks at an odd angles, eyes wide open and sightless. Claire felt as if her heart had stopped for a second.  Clusters of tiny spiders covered the lifeless bodies, weaving intricate metallic webs that seemed to melt into the flesh of the deceased.  But what stood out to Claire was the multiple large lumps that formed on the bodies, it was swollen and it was the only parts not covered with the web. A moment later, the lump cracked open and more tiny spiders crawled out, Claire realized what she had heard in the dark.  It was the bubbling pop of the new spiders that had just been hatched.  It was like stumbling into a horror movie, and it was all she could do not let out a horrified scream as she backed out of the storage room to get security.

It was unfortunate for her that it was at that same moment that she happened to also come across the perpetrator, Spider-Man, his big bug eyes staring at her, upside down from the ceiling.  There was an odd twitch about him as if he was uncomfortable, a bit of tugging at his neck, where Claire guessed was where the seams were for taking off his mask.

“Oh look, I missed one,” said the Spider-Man as he decidedly dropped from the ceiling and landed easily on his feet.

The man oozed of creepy evil and Claire’s instinct took over as she literally shoved the towels and blankets in her arms right into the Spider-Man’s face.  Luckily she had done that because she was sure if waited another second, she would have been webbed in the face.  Instead, she only got a bit of the webbing on the back of her right arm, and it  _ burned _ .  It was light when it initially contacted her, but a few seconds later, she could feel it heat up and start to harden as well.  Using the bottom of her scrubs, she rubbed as much of the web off her as fast as she could, not caring how much it hurt.  She was pretty sure it would hurt much more later if she didn't get it off her.

Still moving quickly down the corridors, Claire felt only sicker as she saw the carnage of people that Spider-Man had left in his wake.  There was Mary, the receptionist, her neck looked like at an awkward position.  Beside her were others as well, though they seemed to have suffered a much worse fate, they had been struck face on with the webbing, and it had solidified and partially melded with their faces.

_ Jesus _ , thought Claire trying to not let what she saw make her throw up.  Her heart pounded heavily as she continued to race down the hallway until she found what she was looking for; the fire alarm.  Without hesitation, she slammed on the lever and boy had Claire ever felt relief for the blaring sound of the alarm.

This at least would warn people to get the hell out so that the Spider-Man couldn’t hurt any more people.  But it seemed that Claire’s plan was not going to work out the way she had planned because suddenly an explosion erupted in the far end of the hallway.  And then another one.  All hell seem to break loose in the hospital as screams erupted from multiple rooms at the same time the sprinklers turned on. .  Gone suddenly was the fear of running into Spider-Man again, her mission instead was to gather together as may survivors on the floor as she could and get the hell out.

That had, however, landed her in the recreation room, trapped again like a fly in a spider’s web.  All of them were.  Until Spider-Man showed up again, and this time it was to rescue them.  Claire’s first defense was to use the tray that was in her hand to do any damage to the man.  But to no surprise the Spider-Man’s reflexes were fast and she lost the tray in her hand within seconds.

The Spider-Man didn’t seem to pursue fighting on with her, or even pay attention to her at all.  Instead his focus was to the room full of people, trying to convince the rest of them he was there to help.  While this was happening, Claire followed her instincts, which was rarely wrong.  First it was to note the stature of the Spider-Man in front of her.  There was big difference, not only was the man less bulky and more slender in size, but the height was noticeably different.  The Spider-Man she had nearly been webbed in the faced with was much taller than her, this one, he was closer to her height.  The voice was also different, less deep and the missing twitch was also apparent.

The most noticeable evidence was the web that this Spider-Man to get the tray away from her; upon inspecting it, it was exactly as it was, a stickyish web.  It didn’t burn, didn’t turn solid.

And honestly at that point, even if Spider-Man had a split personality or something, they needed to get out.

That was exactly what the Spider-Man had done, he’d rescued them and then without even saying a word, he disappeared again back into the raging fires of the hospital.

While Claire knew that the Spider-Man that had saved them was a good person, there was still his very dangerous doppelganger out there.  Even with this knowledge, it wasn’t going to help the real Spider-Man’s case in the least because there was no way to tell them apart in the distance. Claire had only been able to tell the difference because they had encountered each other face to face.  

Two officers approached her to take her statement and she said it was it was:  There was two Spider-Mans’.  One tried to kill them and the other tried to save them.  Claire also hated to add to it, but the officers needed to know too, that the Spider-Man – whichever one it was - had killed over a dozen of people on the 11 th floor, before setting the fire.  They needed to know how dangerous this man was.   She described what she saw in the storage room and as she did, Claire noticed the tension in officer’s faces.  One of the officers said something about requesting permission to use the Long Shocker that they had acquired from Stark Industries.

Claire hopped that she didn’t make it worse for the real Spider-Man, though she hoped he would go back to Queens or in hiding after doing the rescue.  For him to be out there, it was seriously dangerous.  Even with her account that there were two Spider-Mans’ out there, the cops wouldn’t hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later.  If the Spider-Man was smart, he would just hide out somewhere and let the cops apprehend the real criminal.

“My God, Claire? Are you okay?”

Claire turned and saw it was Nora, her face was covered in soot and there was a nasty gash on her temple.

“Nora! You’re okay,” she said in relief, hugging her friend tightly.

“Did you see,” said Nora choking up, “the bodies?  Sarah?  Emmy?  Dr. Ross?”

Claire shook her head, “No, but I saw the others.”

“I can’t believe that was the same Spider-Man that saved us that did that.  I don’t believe it one bit.”

“What do you mean?”

“We didn’t trust him, not after seeing the bodies he had left behind, but then the support beam fell on our way to the exit.  We wouldn’t have made it out if he hadn’t stepped in there to save us.  He held it up, to give us a way out.”

Nora’s eyes were serious as they looked into Claire’s eyes, “I know it sounds crazy, but I really think he’s being framed.”

“I believe you, Nora,” said Claire softly as she steered her friend towards the paramedics.  “You should get that gash on your temple treated.”

The woman nodded and allowed two medics to tend to her injury.

At the corner of eye, Claire saw someone that looked like Frank Castle.  A chill came over her as the thought of the Punisher coming out of retirement to take out Spider-Man.  Turning around quickly, however, the man she thought she saw was gone.  _ Maybe it was my imagination _ , thought Claire.  It had been a long night afterall.  Either way, it was time for her to meet with the ragtag superhero team, see what they can do to clear up everything, and take down the real killer that was on the loose.  Claire pulled out her phone and called the first person she trusted to handle this.

But before she could even place her call, the said person actually showed up in front of her.

“Luke,” she breathed out with relief as he embraced her in a tight hold.

“I came as soon as I heard what happened at the hospital,” he released her and looked deeply into her eyes, “I’m sorry I’m late.  I was with Jessica, on a lead when I heard.”

“I’m just glad you’re here,” she said genuinely and then added, “But we need to talk.”

This earned her a questioning look from Luke.

***

**Frank Castle / The Punisher**

 

Frank hadn’t connected to anyone in a long time, his first real connection since the death of his family had been to Karen Page.  No one else seemed to matter to him as much.  Not until he had met the Liebermans.  What David Lieberman had, it was the only thing Frank ever really wanted.  After the war, coming home, all he wanted was to be with his family, live quietly, be at peace.  Instead Russo, the bastard he considered as his comrade, his best friend, even an uncle to his own kids, he had taken all that from him.

 

In turn, Frank had taken everything that mattered to Billy Russo, crippled the assh*le, and disfigured his face so that it matched the monster that was underneath.  Despite having his vengeance on Russo, there was still an emptiness in Frank that he couldn’t shake.  It was a void that couldn’t be filled… because you couldn’t bring back the dead.  His family, they were gone forever, nothing could change that.

 

When Frank saw on the news about the Elderly home going ablaze, he’d felt an instant sickness in his stomach.  He remembered Leo Liderman had texted him an invite to come join them for a New Years volunteer thing.  But Frank couldn’t do it.  There was a fleeting moment he thought about joining them, but for some reason, finding happiness, wasn’t something he could give himself.  Instead, he ended up passing on it and drinking at a nearby bar.

 

He had woken up the next morning on his couch, TV still on, and bloody hung over.  Frank was half dressed to grab himself some breakfast when his ears caught the name of the Elderly home that Leo was at, and how it had been set ablaze by the former ‘hero’, Spider-Man.

 

Frank didn’t waste anytime, he called Leo immediately and dread filled him when it went to voicemail.  The kid was always on her phone.  He tried her brother, Zach, and he got an answer, it was David himself.

 

“Hello?”

 

Frank had heard David tired, but the man sounded like he was on a verge of a breakdown.

 

“David?”

 

“Frank?” The man was genuinely surprised to hear from him.  Why wouldn’t he, considering that Frank had pretty much broke contact with the Liebermans soon after he had dealt with Russo.  He hadn’t even come to the Thanksgiving dinner he was invited to.

 

“Just wanted to check if everything is okay, everyone is okay?”

 

There was a beat and then David sounded like he was going to crack.  In the background, Frank could hear Sarah crying softly. 

 

“Sorry, um, give me a minute.  Hon, I’ll be right back, okay?”

 

There was sound of movement and then suddenly the loud noises in the background disappeared and he could hear David more clearly.

 

“Frank.   God.  No. Nothing is alright.  This is crazy.  I thought after all that shit we went through, it was over you know.  But what the hell?  Some crazy masked guy literally traps us in the building.  Everyone’s trying to get out.  Leo.  God.  Leo runs to help lead the elderly.  Zach, jesus, he follows too.  Then the structure falls, and I can’t see them.  God. Frank, I couldn’t do anything.”  The man finally took a breath and in a more controlled voice, “They, they don’t know if she’s going to ever wake up, Frank.  

My Leo.”

 

“And Zach?”

 

“He’s regained consciousness, but he’s got some burns on his arm.  Thankfully only first degree is what the doctors say.  We’re going to take him home today.”

 

Frank fell silent, letting the information sink in.  Spider-Man.  Some costumed guy dressed up like a spider, running around killing people.   First he was slashing people, then to snapping people’s neck, now he had moved on to setting fires.  The guy was escalating.  Someone had to stop him. Someone… like the Punisher.

 

“Frank?  Frank you still there?”

 

“Yeah, still here.  Which hospital are you guys at?”

 

“Metro-General Hospital.”

 

“I’ll be there soon,” said Frank. 

 

Before heading there, Frank had something to do:  prepare his gear.

When Frank arrived at the hospital, seeing the Lieberman family broken and in tears at Leo’s state, it took all of Frank not to slam his fist into the wall.

 

The kid looked bad.  Her face pale and she was so…lifeless.  Only the beeping of the monitors showed that the young girl was still alive.

 

No.  This Spider-Man, he was going to pay for this.  For the Leo and for all those people that were caught in the elderly home fire.


	4. Chapter 4

**Peter Parker / Spider-Man**

_ No freaking way.  That guy has the exact same suit as me! _ Thought Peter in surprise as he stared at his doppelganger swinging past the New York City cops.  He had assumed that people who thought they saw Spider-Man, they had mistaken, but now Peter could see they hadn’t.  There was no difference at a glance that the guy he was staring at, was in fact the Spider-Man.  Did this mean that Mr. Stark make another suit?  It was possible… but then he wouldn’t have given something so powerful to someone so evil.  No way.  Maybe it was a stolen suit? But then Mr. Stark would have monitored something like that, maybe even shut it down remotely.  No, this wasn’t something Mr. Stark made.  But maybe some stolen tech that was modified, like what Adrian Toomes and his people did.

Peter’s eyes tracked the fast movements of his doppelganger.  Wow, he was fast.  But no matter what, Peter wasn’t letting the guy out of his sight, not this time.  This fake Spider-Man had tried to hurt a lot of people and he was going to do everything in his power to stop him.  Problem was, Peter still had a target on his back.  Suddenly, Peter’s spidey senses told him turn around.   _ It’s a one way alleyway….why…oh, fantastic _ , thought Peter as he saw he did in fact have company.

Iron Fist had caught up.

Peter normally would have loved to talk himself out of the situation, but he knew that the other guy, the real bad guy in all of this, was getting away.

“Look, the guy who did all these terrible things, it really isn’t me, he’s out there,” said Peter as he gave a half gesture to where he had seen his doppelganger go.  But given that the guy was so far gone ahead, there wasn’t any doubt in Peter’s mind he was pointing to nothing.  It was worth a try, anything really at this point was.  The dead panned expression he was met with said otherwise, however.

“Now, you can either come with me willingly or this could get messy, Spider-Man,” said Iron Fist as he lit up his fist like a Christmas tree.   _ That would be such an awesome power to have,  _ Peter couldn’t help but think.  But Peter didn’t want to fight, not right now.  Glowy fist, however, wasn’t going to let him off so easy like last time when he had managed to out run him.

Iron Fist raced towards him and Peter raised his webshooters and fired them towards the man’s feet.  Peter for a second was afraid it would be jammed again like earlier, but thankfully it fired as it should, and locked down the Iron Fist.

The web didn’t do too much to slow down the Iron Fist as he freed himself in moments with his glowing fist.  But it was enough time for Peter to scramble up the side of the building in the alleyway.

“Sorry, love to chat, but got a bad guy to catch!”

When Peter reached to roof of the building, he wasted no time in getting himself across to the next building, trying to give as much distance as he could from the man chasing him.  All the while, he kept scanning for his doppelganger who seemed to have disappeared from Peter’s sight.   _ This was seriously not going to be easy _ , he thought.  “Where are you evil double… where did you go?” Peter mused aloud.

A sudden scream made Peter turn his head southbound, and just in the far distance, he saw the masked man literally toss a man off the roof of one of the buildings he was swinging by.  Peter was sure the falling man was doomed, but somehow the man managed to grab hold of one of the secondary ledges.  The guy was safe for the time being, but only as long as he could hold on.  It was quite a fall down.

Peter didn’t know if he could get there in time to save the man, but he had to try.  The cool air whipped at his faced as he went full velocity, calculating in his mind the shortest distance and swings he needed to get there.  He was close.  Very close.   _ Come on, dude, hang in there for another minute, please! _ He prayed silently as he desperately weaved his way towards the dangling man.

Peter wasn’t the only one trying to get there, sirens were also sounding all along the main streets.  He was pretty sure every cop in the district was on alert.  Even from where he was, Peter could see the man was losing his grip, and he was going to let go.  “Almost there, buddy, hang in there,” said Peter under his breath.

Just as he said that, Peter saw the man finally loose his grip and the man fell.

The fall was short, however, because luckily, Peter was close enough to catch him.  “Gotcha.  Hang on tight,” said Peter as he swung upwards towards the rooftop of the next building.

Once they landed safely, the man immediately backed away from him, fear written all over his face.  Peter, after everything that had happened all night long, wasn’t the least bit fazed anymore by the guy’s reaction.  Technically speaking, from the man’s perspective, Peter had essentially thrown him off the roof and then moments later decided to save him.  If he was the guy, he’d be just as freaked out.

The man seemed to control his fear for a second he looked at his hands, there was red on it.  Blood.  Oh geez, thought Peter, did the doppelganger hurt him too?

“Hey, Spider-Man, you injured?”

The question threw Peter off for a second and then he realized it was probably because the guy had contacted with the burns on the back of his shoulders from the hospital fire.

“Just a little singed, but nothing to be worried about,” said Peter reassuringly. “You okay on getting down from here?”

The man nodded, though he hadn’t moved and showed no signs of doing so.  He continued to stare at Peter, unwilling to move.  Fair enough, thought Peter, the guy was still nervous about being tossed down another rooftop for fun.

“Um, okay, good, uh, have a good night then,” said Peter as he continued his chase, swinging towards the last direction he had seen his doppelganger.

Again, just when he thought he couldn’t find the guy, the other Spider-Man chose again to attack someone again, though this time Peter knew it was more than one person.

_ It’s like he’s leaving breadcrumbs for me to follow,  _ thought Peter with great unease.  Despite the misgivings he was feeling, Peter knew he couldn’t _ not _ follow the man.  Even if it was a trap, he had to still go there and try and stop his doppelganger.

As Peter thwipped towards the sound of where the screams had came from, he saw that the other Spider-Man had hurt officers this time around. Metallic web had left a number of officers on the ground incapacitated.  The freaky web was burning through their skin.  Peter was about to go down there to help, but a shout came out, and he realized it was about him – Peter was the target.  The near miss of a bullet made Peter’s decision a lot easier.  Bad idea.  Swinging upwards and away from the ground, Peter continued the chase as far from the ground as possible.

 

In honesty, he wasn’t quite sure how he could help them, aside from getting caught of course.  Peter had no way to counteract whatever that was in the acidic like web.  On that matter, he couldn’t help but wonder what made the doppelganger’s web was acidic.  Was he really wearing a suit that gave him options?  Like Peter’s multiple selections, the web grenade, taser web, etc.  It also said as much that was why there wasn’t a trail of metallic webbing from the man’s swinging through Hell’s Kitchen.

As Peter mused this in his mind, he saw that his doppelganger had stopped at a building that was still under construction.  The man looked back and straight at Peter.

“Yeah, this is so a trap” said Peter under his breath making eye contact with the doppelganger before the man disappeared into the building.

When Peter landed on the roof of the building, he immediately had a sense of foreboding.  This was not going to end well.  His spidey sense was on high alert, but despite knowing the danger, he forged ahead.  Peter had to stop the guy, there were way too many people who got hurt.  Just seeing the cops earlier, a dozen of them, easily taken out by just web fluid alone.  Did the suit also give the doppelganger super strength too?  Wondered Peter as he made his way down the building, making his way to face his opponent.

It was eerie silent as Peter walked through the partially erected cement blocks of the site.  So quiet that he could hear his own heartbeat.  This was just so  _ wrong _ .  Where the heck did the guy go?

“Hey Mr. um, I get the feeling that you were looking for me.  So, let’s just, maybe sit down… grab a coffee and talk about this?  Because this hide and seek game you’re playing, it’s not that fun.”

Silence.

_Okay, Peter.  You know he’s here.  If he’s not coming out, you have to find him_.  That was of course, easier said than done.  While there weren’t that many floors, there were still quite a few corridors on each one.  As Peter walked through the open unfinished rooms, the dim light bulbs flickered, sending a sense of dread in him.  He wasn’t afraid perse… okay, maybe a little, but it was the suspense of not knowing, not seeing where his opponent was going to come out from.  His spidey sense, it was through the roof, he could feel his doppelganger watching him for some reason. 

 

It didn’t help that Peter recognized the building, it was the one where three construction workers were found dead, molded into a cement block.  They wouldn’t have been found if it hadn’t been accidentally chipped, and piece of an arm was discovered.  Construction had halted and it had only recently started again.  If things didn’t go well tonight, maybe the building will never finish.

_ Brownie points on the optimism there, Parker, _ thought Peter to himself ruefully.  

Suddenly, Peter stopped.  It was only for a second, but he heard it, a footstep, a shuffling sound, and it wasn’t too far from where he was standing.  And this person… it wasn’t his doppelganger for sure.  No.  This person was wearing a pair of boots.  He or she was also very quiet and stealth, but not enough to escape Peter’s heightened senses.  There was a click, and Peter moved immediately fast as a cascade of bullets came at Peter in rapid succession.  .

_ This dude really shot first and asked questions later! _

“Hey Mr.!” said Peter managed between dodges.

“You – “

_ Pftt _

“Really – “

_ Pftt _

“Have –“

_ Pftt _

“The –“

_ Pftt _

“Wrong –“

_ Pftt _

“Guy!”

There was suddenly a break and for a moment, Peter thought he may have gotten through to the man.  Instead, the guy actually emerged from the shadows.  In the dim light, Peter saw the a white skull against a black shirt long before he casted his gaze on the man’s face.

 

“Oh God, you’re the Punisher,” said Peter, unable to hold back his surprise, and his voice went a pitch too high for his own liking.  

Staring at the man that Peter knew to be Frank Castle, the notorious killer of more than half a dozen criminals, he couldn’t help but feel a mixture of fear and awe.  The fear, obviously was that Peter was his target, the awe, being that this was the Punisher, the guy who took out a lot of really bad guys, standing in front of him.

While Peter admired the guy’s tenacity on taking on bad guys, killing them, that was a different story.  He remembered listening to a segment on “Trish Talk” about Frank Castle.  The man was a war hero, fought for America, laid his life on the line to save his fellow comrades.  But when he came back, he lost his family in a gang related violence.  So, he went to take out all the guys involved, for vengeance for his family.  Peter would classify the man not as evil, not like his doppelganger, but more like… an anti-hero?  Something along those lines.

“If you know me, then you should know you’re a f*cking dead man for what you’ve done,” said Castle, his voice low.   _ Click _ .

Peter knew he was going to let out another round and it didn’t help that he was starting to close the distance between them.  Lowering his voice an octave or two, Peter took what he knew was probably the only opportunity he had to explain things before got pretty violent.

“There’s another Spider-Man out there, that’s the one you’re looking for.  Not me.  I’m trying to get that guy too.  I didn’t hurt anyone.  Um.. maybe you know, we could work together, and catch him?”

“I know there’s another one of you,” was the deadpanned response.

_ Okay, not what I was expecting, but I’ll roll with it, _ thought Peter uncertain how the conversation was going to go.  So the guy knew that there were two of them… but he was still going to shoot him?

“So, um, you’re just going to shoot me too?”

“I’m going to shoot both of you.”

“But I’m the good guy!”

“That’s what they all say.”

“Aw, no. Seriously…. Uh, wait, that’s not …” Peter realized that Castle wasn’t holding a regular gun.  No, bloody hell, it couldn’t be –“

“Yeah, borrowed this from the officers, thought they would appreciate me taking you down a bit quicker.  I saw how you went down you got hit with this,” and he patted the electric shocker thing.  “Packs quite a punch, doesn’t it?  Besides, I’ve wasted a lot of ammo on you.”

“Yeah, just a bit,” responded Peter by reflex.  In his mind, he was starting to map out his escape.   Castle and the shocker gun was a problem, but not the main one.  While his spidey sense had been tingling of danger the moment he stepped into the building, it was going haywire right now.  His doppelganger was  _ here,  _ and he was watching this.  Was this the trap?  To get him and Castle at each other?  Peter didn’t get it.  If the doppelganger was as powerful as he was, why do this?

“Look, please listen to me.   The other guy, the one that’s been doing all this, he’s here.  He’s watching us, he’s going to do something –“

“Not before I handle him.  Spider-Man, you should really be more worried about yourself.”

_ Oh, I am.  I’m very worried right now _ .  _  I’m also really worried that my spidey senses have essentially gone crazy on me _ .

Peter felt danger all around him, and he realized that maybe it wasn’t that he was being watched.  But the fact that it  _ was _ danger surrounding him. But… where?  And what was it?

Peter sensed the electric discharge from Castle’s weapon and made a fast movement to the right, barely missing it.  He crashed into a pile of thin pipes before landing hard on to the cement floors.  The ringing sound of the pipes rolling along the floors echoed, making Peter realized just how alone he actually was.  Alone with three people and half of New York City’s cops chasing him down.  Suddenly he felt a burn on his arm.   _ No way, I didn’t even get hit, why is my arm ... _ and then he saw them.  Hundreds.  Maybe thousands of them. It didn’t matter because it was a freaking nightmare.  Spiders, tiny little ones, they were skittering around on the floors.  The ones that Peter had accidently crushed in his fall, they had released what he had seen at the hospital, metallic webbing.   _ Oh God _ .  So this was how the doppelganger had managed to seal off the windows like that.  So did this mean, the guy had powers … what did Ned say, “ _ to summon an army of spiders _ ”? This was so not good.

Castle fired the weapon again, but missed again as Peter dodged it.

 

“Mr. Castle,” started Peter, but then he saw  _ him _ , perched upside down on the ceiling above the Punisher.   _ Crap. _

“Look out, above you!” cried out Peter in warning.  But it was too late and everything happened at once.

Castle fired his weapon at Peter.  Peter made to dodge the blast.  The doppelganger dropped down from above Castle.  The freaky spiders  _ exploded  _ where Peter’s feet were, the webbing was enough to trip him up for a second.  And it was enough for Castle’s fire to meet its mark.  Peter crumpled to the ground from the shock.  Doppelganger threw Castle like a rag doll, smashing him into a half erected concrete wall.  He followed it with shooting his webshooters, webbing Castle to the spot.  

Peter, meanwhile, laid on the ground, head spinning, ears ringing and body seizing from the shock.   _ God, this time it hurt even more than the last time _ , thought Peter.  Still laying half curled up in pain, Peter stared at where Castle had dropped the weapon after he was attacked by the doppelganger.  Even in the building’s dim lighting, he could make out the words  _ STARK _ printed clearly on its side.  Well, irony aside, it at least  explained why it was so efficient taking Peter down.  It was a weapon that Mr. Stark must have developed for dealing with inhuman threats.

Speaking of inhumans, Peter was starting to think that his double wasn’t exactly human.  A person could control spiders, sure.  But these spiders… they weren’t normal.  They had acidic webbing.  And they freaking exploded on command.  If things weren’t so serious, Peter would have laughed.  Exploding spiders.  Ned would have a field day when he heard about this.  More the reason Peter had to live by the end of the night, just so he could see his friend’s reaction to his adventure.  Well.  Adventure might not have been quite the word for it.

His doppelganger turned his attention to Peter, and then picked up the discarded STARK weapon and fired it again at him.  Still unable to move from the initial stun, the weapon’s discharge struck Peter head on.  The man wasn’t finished.  He fired the weapon again at Peter. 

God, Peter felt sick.  His vision was swimming, ears were ringing, and his head hurt like a ton of bricks had fallen on it.  As for the rest of him, his muscles and everything, they were still in shock, paralyzed by the electrical charge.

_ Man, this dude is not taking any chances. _

Just as Peter thought that, the doppelganger webbed him to the spot.   _ Crap. _  This was the same type of metallic webbing that he had seen at the hospital.  The one that was used on Castle, was different. So the double could definitely produce this acidic webbing on command.   _ Fantastic. _

Still in his line of vision, Peter could see that his doppelganger had turned his attention back to the Punisher.  A pipe in his hand, he watched as the man strike Castle in the midsection with it.  Castle gritted his teeth, but refused to cry out, so the man hit him again.  It was hard enough for Peter to hear a crack.   _ Shit, the guy was going to kill Castle. _

_ You’ve got this Peter.  Come on.  You can get up.  This is nothing.  You’ve had a building fall on you!  You even got shot.  This… this is nothing.  What would Mr. Stark say? No laying down on the job.  That’s right.  Up. Come on. _  God it was difficult, especially having to also get the metallic web off of him.  Ignoring the pain he felt from the acidic webbing, Peter peeled off the webbing that covered his body and legs, which the latter had already half solidified.  For the leg section, when he got it off, it also took some of the Spider-Man’s suit’s fabric with it.   _ Crap, Mr. Stark was going to be so mad at him for damaging the suit. _ But Peter would worry more about that later, he had take this Russo guy down first.  The rest on his body, thankfully, had marginal damage to the suit.  Pushing himself upright his first plan was to grab that STARK shocker weapon.  If it could take Peter down, then it should work the same on his doppelganger.  Aiming his webshooters at it, he tried to grab it.   

Nothing.  It was still jammed.  Geez, this was so not his day.  Finally at least the ringing stopped and he heard the doppelganger speak.  So dude  _ can  _ talk too.  But he was also batshit crazy, beating down on Castle like no tomorrow.

“…want to tear up my face, you little assh*le, well then right back at you,” said the masked man as he struck Castle in the jaw.  And then again.  And again. 

“Russo, you mother f*cker, I should have killed you,” Peter heard Castle growl at the doppelganger as the man gripped him by the neck, raising him upwards like a ragdoll, tearing him from the webbing.  Peter knew the man wasn’t using his full strength, he was just toying with the Punisher.  However long the guy could continue the assault on Castle, Peter didn’t want to wait and find out.   Not only that, but new information was given; Castle knew this ‘Spider-Man’ – a guy named Russo. 

Since his webshooters were still down for the count, Peter had to handle it the old fashioned way.  Rushing forward, Peter knew the only way to deal with Russo was by tackling him down.  The weapon was too out of his reach, it was actually closer to the Punisher than to Russo.  As he was about arms length to man, Russo suddenly turned around to look at Peter.  _ No way, this guy had spidey sense too? _  So not fair.  Russo didn’t hesitate to fire his webshooters again to reattach the Punisher to the wall in a split second while also striking out with the pipe at Peter.  Thankfully, Peter was able to duck away from it. 

_ Well, two can play this game _ . 

Russo came at him again, and Peter managed to maneuver away from him as well, surprising the other man.  The surprises didn’t seem to end there.  It seemed that neither of them seemed to be able to really land a punch on each other.

The man took another swing at Peter, which he avoided easily.  For the next few minutes it was just dodging of punches from both sides.  At one point, Russo had abandoned the pipe, using instead his bare fists. 

While Peter was more defensive than offensive, the complete opposite of Russo, whose punches and swings grew exponentially more aggressive and powerful.  There were literally cracks in the concrete where he missed hitting Peter.  Peter guessed it didn’t help that he was a bit too talkative as well.  He had been told he talked too much during fights – well, according to Falcon and Mr. Stark, but Peter couldn’t help it, it was almost a reflex for him.

“So you military trained? How do you know Mr. Castle?  How did you get your powers?  Or are you wearing a suit?  But I’m guessing you’re not, cause that wouldn’t make sense with the spiders…”

“Shut the hell up!” Russo roared at one point, tired of Peter’s rapid fire of questions as they fought.

Peter had to admit one thing, the Russo guy  _ was _ stronger than him, but it was probably because of the after effects of the STARK shocker weapon.  Even though Peter had regained most of his senses, he noticed that he was sluggish in some of his movements, it was barely noticeable to the human eye, but to Peter, he could tell.  This of course usually would be nothing against most of his opponents, but when you were fighting someone who had essentially the same power as you, any disadvantage could be used against you. 

Thankfully, Peter was still holding his own. 

At least he was. 

They were in mid fight when suddenly, Russo in mid punch, switched gears and instead grabbed Peter. 

It was so sudden, that Peter didn’t register the danger until it was too late.  His spider sense usually told him danger, but it was going haywire with all the little exploding spiders that Russo would set off every once in a while.

Russo tossed Peter right into the line of fire of the energy discharge from the STARK weapon.

_ Not again _ , was the thought that went through his mind as he went down again for the uptenth time by the stupid weapon. 

 

“I am the immortal Iron Fist. Weapon of K'un-Lun. Sworn enemy of the --”

Peter didn’t even need to look at who had fired the weapon since the guy was introducing himself.  Great, Glowy fist guy was present now.  Russo, however, used his little army of spiders to take down Iron Fist, kamikaze style.  Which also interrupted the Iron Fist’s indroduction.  If this had been some sort of comedy, Peter would have laughed at how crazy it looked.  But there was nothing funny about it at all. The exploding spiders left a blast of acidic webbing, distracting Iron Fist both by sheer abstractness and basic hinderance.

Russo used that momentary distraction to also fire off his metallic web towards the Iron Fist.  The vigilante used his glowing fist to easily melt through the webbing, which by all means annoyed Russo.  Peter watched as Iron Fist launched into an attack against Russo, and impressively actually caught Russo in the chest.  Glowy fist guy had some pretty awesome skills!

But like Peter, Russo also had in-human agility and strength so the man was quickly up again, ready for another round. Iron Fist struck again against Russo, his fist lit up like fire, and this time the man waited the last second to dodge it, letting the fist hit the wall, which literally obliterated it.

_ Oh wow, that glowing fist is not a joke _ , thought Peter.

This went on for a minute or two, but after Iron Fist had destroyed more than half a dozen walls with his fist, Russo seemed to tire of the game.  He shot out his webshooters to distract Iron Fist just enough so that he could close in and... toss him off the building.

_ Holy shit _ , thought Peter in horror.  God he hoped Iron Fist was really immortal as he claimed.

Russo returned his attention to Peter. 

“That was fun,” and he picked up the STARK weapon again, “but a waste of my time.”

_ Aw come on.  Not again.  Please no. Please – _

_ Zap _ .

Peter felt the shock ripple through his body again.  Whatever feeling he was starting to get back, it was back to square one again. 

_ I hate that stupid shocker weapon _ , thought Peter rather angrily.  How many times had he been shot with it?

“I was going to deal with you later, but you had to interrupt me from my little chat with Castle.”

_ I don’t think there was a lot of chatting involved, more like hitting, _ thought Peter, still unable to speak.   

“You’ve been shocked a few times with this thing,” mused Russo as he patted the shocker weapon in his hand.  “Took you only a few minutes to recover.  I wonder…” Russo set the weapon down and replaced in his hand the pipe he had used earlier to beat the Punisher with. 

_ Damn, he knows I’m incapacitated right now _ , thought Peter.  Was he going beat him down as he was doing with Castle?  This was his most vulnerable state.  The rest of Peter was still trying to get out of the temporary paralysis he was under.  At least his attention was on Peter and not on Castle. The other man, he really couldn’t take another beating, not with the super strength Russo had.

Russo’s figure loomed over Peter, and though he couldn’t see the man’s actual face underneath the mask, he sensed it to be watchful.  Curious.  Purposeful.  All of which spoke volumes on how dangerous a situation Peter really was in.  The man knelt one knee down, pressing it firmly against Peter’s torso, the pipe still playfully twirling on one hand, and his free hand went to Peter’s neck.

_ Come on, Parker.  Move. You have to move now! _ But no matter how much he forced himself to, he couldn’t. 

“Now it’s time.  I want to see your face.”

_ That was such a weird thing to say,  _ thought Peter, unease rippling through him.

In one swift motion, Russo pulled off Peter’s mask.

There was silence.

The man kept staring at Peter’s face, waiting for something.  He put his masked face so close to Peter that he could feel the man’s breath on him. 

_ Just a little too close.  Ever heard of personal space? _

Peter wasn’t sure what Russo was expecting, but he didn’t expect the next reaction from the man – a crazed rage.

Okay, rage was understating it.  He went straight out ballistic. Tossing Peter’s mask to the side, the man started to howl in anger.

“What the f*ck.  Why. Why. Why?!  Why am I not changing?!”

_ Oh crap. Oh crap.  This guy was seriously crazy _ , thought Peter feeling absolutely horrified. Russo teared at his throat with his free hand, at the seams of his mask, but it looked like he couldn’t get it off.   _ Or... oh God _ , thought Peter.   _ Maybe… maybe he didn’t have a face under there? _  Peter really didn’t  _ see _ a seam, or anything. 

“No!!! God damn it! It should have worked. Damn it!  I should have a face!  I want to breathe, I want.. f*ck.”  The cursing continued, words that burned Peter’s ears, but as long as the man was in a rage, he was buying Peter time to regain his ability to move again.  Yes.  There was a little tingling at his fingertips. Keep on … cursing?  Whatever it was he was doing.  Just a little longer…

“No. No. No!!!! You… !  It’s your fault.  It’s your fault I’m like this.”

But just as sudden was his emergence of rage, he calmed just as quickly.

“No.  no.  It’s you, Frank,” Russo turned to the webbed up Castle, “Your fault.  You could had just left things back in Afghanistan be, let sleeping dogs lie.  But no.  You. You’re to blame for everything that happened afterwards.  You took my life.  My face.  Left me in that hospital, dumb and clueless.  No memory of what you’ve done.  What you’ve taken.  Your family.  You f*cking miss them so God damn much, I’ll send you off.”  And then Peter watched as the man rose, finally allowing him to breathe properly.  “But just to let you know, everyone that’s died, that will die tonight, that’s on you.”

“Go to hell Russo, you deserve every shit that comes your way,“ snapped Castle.  Peter couldn’t really turn his head, but he was sure that the Punisher was glaring daggers at Russo.

“Hell is relative,” said Russo and then without any hesitation, he plunged the pipe that was in hand, straight through Peter’s left shoulder. 

_ Wasn’t there a saying, to always expect the unexpected?  Well. This was definitely on a scale of 1 to 10, an 11 on unexpected.  _

 

Peter blinked for a moment in shock, just stared at the long metal pipe that was now sticking out of him.  The pain that ripped through Peter was rather incomprehensible.  God.  This… this was probably worse than getting shot, if that was even possible.  Not to mention there was a slight concern that floated at the very back of Peter’s mind on how rusty that pipe was.  

Tears burned in Peter’s eyes, but he refused to shed them.  It hurt  _ so _ much. It was even worse when Russo decided to wiggle the pipe, sending shockwaves of pain through Peter.  This time, the tears involuntarily fell from his eyes.  The world was on fire for him.

“Does that hurt, little Spider?”

God, it hurt a lot, more so each time Russo jostled or twisted the pipe. 

“Hear that Frankie?  You’ve been hunting this little spider all night.  You should thank me that I got the job done for you.”

Russo twisted the pipe again.

_ God, please stop.  Please. _  It hurt so much, black spots were appearing over Peter’s eyes.  And Russo didn’t stop, he kept twisting and turning the pipe.  If there was a face under that mask, Peter imagined it held a sadistic smile.

Russo crouched down again and then reached for Peter’s head. 

_ No.  Stay away! _ Cried Peter inwardly.  He wanted to shrink away from the hand, but still his body remained still and useless. 

Russo didn’t do anything so much as turned Peter’s head to face Frank Castle.

“Frankie, take a look at who you’ve been shooting at all night.”

Peter could see the shock on Frank Castle’s face.  And the anger that flared up a second later.

“F*ck you, Russo.  You were after me the whole time, leave the kid out of it.”

“Always the soft spot for children, eh Frankie?  This one remind you of your boy?”

Castle growled something intelligible as he struggled against the webbing.

 

“You weren’t my only target, Castle.  This one, this one I had hoped to see his face, maybe it would make me back to normal again.  Not like this masked face that I can’t even breathe fresh air.  I can’t even f*cking eat, Frankie.  All cause some nurse thought it be good to give me some supplements, help me get my memory back.  God damn fish oils, Frankie.  And the woman, she was a real fan of yours, Spider-Man.  Liked to watch those opinion channels, speculating what super powers they think Mr. Spider-Man here has.”

Again, Russo twisted the pipe in Peter. 

_ God, please stop. _

 

“And turned me into this thing, 24/7, I’m in this goddamn costume.  Found her real quick though.  Gave her some fish oils to try, don’t think she took it as well.  Then the rest of her staff.  The docs.  Kinda fun slicing and dicing.”

 

Twist and jab.

 

Letting out an involuntary cry, Peter tried to keep his body from shaking in agony, knowing that it would only add to the pain.  It was pain layered on top of pain.

Peter felt blood trickle from his lips and on to the hard concrete floor.

“Kid, hurts a lot eh?”  Russo didn’t expect Peter to answer, nor could he, not trusting his voice to crack under the duress.

 

“Did you get my gift, Frankie?  Heard you had a real connection with Dave Lieberman’s kids.  Leo and Zach? Didn’t take me too long to track them down.  Tried roasting them twice.  Second time did the charm.  Nice and crispy.”

 

“Leave the kid alone!” Snapped Castle to Russo, but the man just laughed it off.

Peter meanwhile was angry.  Angry that he was stuck like this, and the fact that this psycho was goading Castle on a loss that no one had the right to do that.   _ If someone did that to me about Uncle Ben, I wouldn’t be able to stand it either _ .  And damnit, Peter did not want to die in the hands of this guy who had committed so many murders, and in Spider-Man’s name at that.

“Got enough red here to paint the town, kid,” mused Russo.  Peter knew what the man meant; he could feel the blood coat the side of his face, and it continued to grow.  It was scary.  Really scary. 

If Peter had to act, it was now.  He didn’t know how much longer he could hold on.  As with all bad guys, they loved to monologue, talk about their anger issues.  Whatever worked.  Keep talking.

While they did that, Peter tried again, pressing his two fingers against his palm. 

_ Come one.  Work!  _ Begged Peter to his webshooters.

And he felt it, the tiniest sound of the webbing shooting out.  It was all the confirmation he needed - they were back online. 

He shifted the his wrists towards Russo’s face.  The man realized it, but it was a second too late.  He got a face full of Peter’s webbing.  The momentary distraction was what Peter needed.  Mentally preparing himself for the pain, Peter yanked out the pipe from his shoulder in one move, and let out a cry of agony as he did so.

Tossing the pipe aside, Peter went for what he knew could take Russo down.  The damn STARK weapon.  It was about time that someone used it on the guy.  In truth, he really didn’t have the strength to handle Russo.  He calculated he had probably about a few minutes of consciousness before he really would passed out, whether he liked it or not.

In that time, Peter had to make sure that Russo was taken down.  Especially now that he heard distant sirens.  Someone must have reported hearing their fight.  Good.  

Peter lifted the weapon, which normally would have felt like nothing to him, but he actually felt a weight on it.

He aimed it at Russo, and shot the inhuman psycho with it.  Not once, but three times. 

“Yeah.  Now you know how it feels, asshat.”

Having finally knocked Russo out, Peter fired off his webshooters on to the man, making something like a cacoon, leaving only Russo’s head unwebbed. 

 

_ Okay.  Done.  Now, mask _ , thought Peter as he went to retrieve his mask.

 

With his mask back on, and still holding on to the weapon, Peter started to make his way to Frank Castle.  As he did, he felt himself sway a moment before he regaining his footing.   _ Yeah, I’m so not feeling good right now. _

“Hey, Mr. Castle,” said Peter when he finally reached the man, “I’ll get you out in a minute.”

The man remained silent for a moment before he spoke, his voice gruff, “Thanks, kid.”

_ Kid? How’d he know --, oh right.  The guy had seen his face.  Blood Loss really makes you forget things _ , thought Peter.

Ripping the webbing away, which had quite a few layers, Peter finally released Castle from his very uncomfortable attachment to the concrete wall.

Now it was time for Peter to get the hell out of Hell’s Kitchen, no pun intended.

 

“Uh, Mr. Castle,” said Peter, his mouth was feeling really dry suddenly, “you should just keep on shooting him with this shocker thing.  It’ll keep him down until the cops come.”

 

“Not sure if the cops are fans of mine.”

 

“Well, I guess were on the same boat, sorta.  But think I’m higher on the wanted list than you right now.”

 

Peter received a concerned look from Castle.

 

“You need to go to a hospital, get that checked out.”

 

_ That _ , which Castle was referring to, was the gaping hole in Peter’s shoulder that was still bleeding badly.  The man was right, Peter was in really bad shape.  Peter didn’t want to, but he had to call Happy.   _ Not dying tonight.   _ He’d do it once he left the construction site.  He seriously didn’t want to stay another minute.

 

Peter stumbled suddenly, unable to hold himself up.  Fortunately, Castle caught him in time. 

 

“Kid, I’m serious.”

 

Peter nodded, too tired to really speak.  Yet despite how tired he was, he felt his spidey sense suddenly flash danger.  

 

“Seriously? There’s more? Come on, can’t a guy catch a break?”  Peter didn’t even realize he had said it aloud, nor did he notice the confused look on Castle’s face.

 

The night wasn’t going to be easy for Peter at all.  He had only a second to react, and with energy he didn’t know he still had, Peter picked Castle up in a fireman’s carry, and leapt off the same direction Russo had tossed the Iron Fist not too long ago.  Barely a second later, the world exploded above them as whatever Russo had rigged up in the building, leveled it to the ground.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for the encouraging reviews and kudos! :)

**Danny Rand / Iron Fist**

Danny in this time in K’un-Lun had learned martial arts from the very best of masters.  Such skills had enabled him to not only defeat a live dragon and become the Iron Fist, but also aided him when he faced the Hand not too long ago.  Yet still with all that he had experienced, it had not prepared him for his third encounter with Spider-Man that night.

 

Well, not really the Spider-Man though.  It was more the Spider-Mans.  

 

He hand found them and Frank Castle, who was quite uncomfortably attached to a wall by metallic webbing, in an building construction site.  Danny, had almost not recognized the Punisher because he’d been so badly beaten.   Thankfully, however, despite his clear injuries, the man was still alive and doing his best to get out of his predicament. The man continued to struggle even when Danny showed up.  There was the slightest recognition Castle’s face when he saw Danny, a cross of relief and something else he couldn’t quite discern.  

 

Danny had begun to summon his Iron Fist to break through the web bindings on Castle, but stopped when the Punisher shook his head and mouthed, “Get the gun”.

Following Castle’s line of sight, Danny saw a discarded weapon on the ground with the words _STARK_ printed on it.  Immediately he recognized it to be what had taken down the Spider-Man in the first place.  Danny looked back at Castle who nodded for him to proceed.  Danny understood what the man wanted him to do, take down the two Spider-Mans first.  While the honor in Danny called for a proper one on one combat, it was important to note there were _two_ Spider-Mans.  If the two tagged team on Danny, it would be very bad, but worse if they used Castle as a hostage.

No, it was a better plan to catch them unawares.  Take them down first and then return to free Castle afterwards.  

 

As Danny picked up the weapon to fire it, he could help be slightly mesmerized by the two Spider-Mans’ fight. They were both so fluid in movements, completely attuned with each other, one not out matched by the other.  It was almost like a dance, with a cracking of concrete every few beats.  One was aggressive and violent, the other more subdued and defensive, but not without a bite of his own.  It was ... fascinating, something Danny would have enjoyed watching further if not for the danger of being discovered.  

Danny decided he would take down the more aggressive Spider-Man first.  But to his surprise, just as he fired the weapon, the other Spider-Man was thrown into his line of fire.

 

It startled Danny for only a moment, but it was the opening that the aggressive Spider-Man needed in order to shoot his webs at him.  The webbing was unlike anything he had ever encountered, nor expected.  It changed properties from something soft and fluid and into some sort of hard metallic substance.  Danny had to use his iron fist in order to break through it.  

 

The metallic webbing was not the only surprise.  Something much more bizarre happened, and it freaked Danny out on so many levels.  He’d always been a bit of an arachnophobic, so when a _horde_ of spiders came at him, it took all of Danny not to let out a horrified scream.  He had expected to be bitten by these awful creatures, but they didn’t do that.  Instead, they _exploded_ , and in their wake, left a metallic webbing that burned.

 

Quickly using his iron fist to break through the metallic webbing and brushing as much as the spiders that hadn’t exploded off him, Danny prepared himself for the Spider-Man’s attack.  He had managed one swift hit on the masked criminal but after that, it was misses after misses.  

 

The Spider-Man was incredibly agile and had some sort of sixth sense of when Danny was going to strike.  It made the fight quite uneven, and more so with the strength that the man possessed.  Matching that with the clear training the Spider-Man seem to have, Danny did not know how long he could hold out.  His concern, however, became irrelevant once the masked man made the decision for him – by webbing Danny up and tossing unceremoniously over the side of the building.

 

Danny felt himself fly and then before he could get out of the webbing that Spider-Man had shot on to him, he struck hard concrete, well a part of him did anyway, in his fall.  He then rolled rapidly further along an angled incomplete flooring and onto a scaffolding.  The scaffolding, unable to handle his weight, tilted and Danny felt himself fall with the structure, all the way to ground level.

When he landed, Danny could feel that he had multiple fractures, broken ribs and likely a concussion as well.  While he wanted to immediately head back up to free Castle, he was in no condition to do so.

 

In his time of taking care of the city on behalf of the Daredevil, Danny had learned a great deal about himself and how he needed to handle his combats more strategically.  His mentors in K’un-Lun had said that while Danny was talented in martial arts, he still had much to learn about patience.

 

As he focused his _chi_ to heal himself - something ironically was taught to him by an enemy, Danny realized he should have counted himself as lucky.  Had he not fallen on to the unbalanced scaffold, he would most certainly have fallen to his death, given that he had not been able to free himself of the metallic webbing until mid-fall from the structure.

 

In his meditative healing state, he heard an ear-piercing cry of pain.   _Something was happening up there_.  Danny knew he had to hurry.  The painful cries, however continued, and he could not help but imagine the terrible danger Frank Castle was in.  This was all Danny’s fault.  He should have freed the man first.

 

It seemed like forever when finally, just as Danny exited from his state of meditation, there was a roaring noise above him.   _Holy shit,_ he swore inwardly as he made a mad dash away from the building as it literally came crashing to the ground.

 

From where Danny stood, he could see the Spider-Man in the air as well, and with him, was Castle in a fireman’s hold.   Narrowing his eyes, Danny tracked the movements of the Spider-Man as he came flying down.  He had seen the man swing from building to building before, he was very agile, and no doubt would have no problems getting down from such a great height.

 

Yet, Danny could see that something was different this time.  The Spider-Man suddenly shifted mid-air, twisting and then tossing the Punisher away from him.  Watching from below, Danny felt himself feel a catch in his breath as he watched Castle free fall several meters.   _The man was going to die_.

 

Suddenly, the Spider-Man dove downwards and caught Castle, though it wasn’t a very steady grip as the masked man seemed to lack the strength to hold on to the webbing that was stopping their descent.  Another attempt was made, but again, the Spider-Man failed to hold on.  And then another. It looked to Danny that the man was in serious trouble, and like a drowning person trying to stay afloat, the Spider-Man was trying to cling to anything that to slow their fall.  But it seemed after the third attempt, the man’s webshooters somehow failed and both of them plummeted downwards, and landed with a loud crash to the ground below.   

 

Danny didn’t wait for the dust to clear to make his way towards the fallen men.

When he reached them, he immediately went to check on Castle.  While in Danny’s mind, Castle was no hero – killing people who were killers themselves did not make him good.  Yet he was still by far better than Spider-Man who preyed on the weak and defenseless.  What Spider-Man had been doing, murdering and killing in the city Danny had promised Matt to protect in his absence, it was of pure evil.   Danny would not forgive a person like that.  No matter what, the Spider-Man would pay for his crime tonight.  Perhaps the man was lucky that it was Danny that was taking him in, and not the Punisher.  No doubt the latter would have brought Spider-Man in, but in a body bag.

 

There was a question on Danny’s mind, which Spider-Man was this?  Was this the same one that had thrown him from the building?  Or was this the Spider-Man that he had shot accidently with the shocker weapon.  And did it matter?  There was nothing that said the other Spider-Man was a good one.  It could have been a heist gone wrong, where two partners in crime turned against each other.  Danny remembered watching a movie with Colleen that had that exact thing happen.  Maybe this Spider-Man had different plans for the Punisher that the other one didn’t agree with, which was why they fought?  Or maybe something more sinister?  Or really it could be that one was actually a good Spider-Man trying to stop the bad one…  Danny had also seen a movie like that too.

 

Too many different scenarios, and Danny’s head hurt a bit from it.  Or maybe that was just the concussion he still had.  The _chi_ may not have healed that completely.

Regardless, Danny for now his primary goal was to make sure that Frank Castle was out of the Spider-Man’s grasp.

 

Carefully, Danny crouched down and pulled Spider-Man’s iron grip away from the unconscious Castle.   The man didn’t even stir, and it was likely from the bump that was starting to swell on the side of his head.

 

Spider-Man, not surprisingly to Danny, looked in even worse shape than Castle.  Under the lighting the man did not look like he was breathing at all. The front of his suit was also completely soaked in blood.  The fall, no doubt, added more to his injuries.  No. This Spider-Man was done.  His days of committing crimes were ending this night.  Whatever had transpired in the building leading to its own demolition, it had also taken out the Spider-Man.  Well, one of them anyway.  The other one may or may not be alive, though with an explosion like that, perhaps the body was incinerated.

 

Danny started to pull out his cellphone to call Colleen when he heard a voice call out his name.

 

“Danny!”

 

“Danny!”

 

Danny turned to the sound of the voice and saw Colleen and Luke running towards him.

 

_Guess I didn’t need to call after all._

 

“Danny, I’ve been trying to reach you the past half hour,” said Colleen, her voice laced with worry.

 

“Good thing we were able to track you by GPS,” she continued, “But you’ve literally been bouncing all over the city –“

 

Colleen froze in mid sentence when she saw the blood on Danny’s suit.  Despite the dark red colour, it couldn’t hide all the wounds on him, unfortunately.  The nasty gash on his forehead probably didn’t help matters.

 

“Oh my God, Danny …”

 

“I’m okay, Colleen.  I was injured earlier in my fight with the Spider-Man, but with my _chi_ I was able to heal some of the most critical injuries,” said Danny squeezing her hand gently in reassurance.“

 

“You’ve got anymore of that _chi_ you can spare?” It was Luke that spoke.  He was taking in the injuries that both the Punisher and the Spider-Man sustained.  Though his eyes didn’t seem to leave the Spider-Man, since the man’s injuries seemed beyond reprehension.

 

“I won’t be able to for a while, I need time to replenish the _chi_ ,” Danny paused for a moment than asked the question on his mind, “Should we leave Spider-Man and Frank Castle to the police?”

 

“I talked with Claire, and she said that there’s two Spider-Man’s out there.  One of them is good, and the other one, he’s a bad one.”

 

Danny nodded, “I did see two.  But how can Claire be sure one of them is a good one?”

 

“Because a Spider-Man saved her from a hospital building that was set on fire tonight,” said Luke, “I’ll handle the Spider-Man – just in case, we got the wrong one.  But Claire described him to be closer to her height, and a tear on his arm where a sniper missed his shot.  This looks close enough to me.”

 

As he said that, Luke shook off his jacket and handed it to Colleen.  Gently, he moved to scooped up the unconscious Spider-Man into his arms. Colleen was about to just hand over the jacket to cover up the blood on the man’s body, but she let out a gasp instead.

 

Luke looked confused, and it wasn’t until he shifted the Spider-Man towards him, that Danny could see why Colleen was so distressed.  There was a lot of damage on the man’s back, shrapnel shards were embedded, digging deep into his flesh.  There was also a cluster of nails to the man’s side as well.  This was not good at all.  Colleen gently lay the jacket over the Spider-Man’s body, covering the blood.

 

Seeing Spider-Man’s state, Danny couldn’t help but think that maybe his last guess might have been right, that … that maybe this was the case of the good Spider-Man chasing after an impersonator.

 

_“I can smell smoke from the fire you set tonight, Spider-Man,”_

_“I was at the hospital, but it was after the fire started.  I was just there to help the people get out,”_

The memories of encountering the first time this night came to Danny’s mind.  He _did_ smell the smoke on him, it was clear and sharp as day.  Yet the third time, when he had fought hand to hand with the Spider-Man in the building, there was none of that.

But that meant nothing.

Who was to say they weren’t working together?

Danny’s mind was playing a game of devil’s advocate on him.

_But then, why did he protect Frank Castle by using his own body as a buffer between him and the ground?  Only a good person would do that._

Danny didn’t know what to think, and really the only way to know was to ask Castle himself; who was knocked out cold.

It seemed that Luke and Colleen both seemed to have come to the same conclusion – they had no true idea what transpired up there – only Frank Castle could tell them.

“Let’s bring him back to the dojo.  We can ask more questions then,” said Colleen turning her head to the distinct sound of sirens approaching.

Luke nodded, “We should hurry.   Can you guys both handle Castle?”

“Yeah, we’ve got him,” said Danny as he and Colleen both took a shoulder to the man.

“Claire should be there at the dojo too.  Maybe she can take a look at these guys, assess how serious the injuries are,” said Luke as he took the lead to leaving the construction site.

God.  This was turning out to be a really bizarre night.  Danny had been set to apprehend the Spider-Man, but now, it looked like they were not only saving him – well, if he could be saved at all – but they were going to harbor the criminal instead.  Well, him _and_ Frank Castle, so two criminals. Fantastic.  Could the night get any crazier than this?

***

**Claire Temple**

“What happened?” asked Claire as she saw Luke, Danny and Colleen enter the dojo with two unconscious figures.  Quickly Claire fetched two mats for them to lay the people on.

Danny and Colleen laid down the man they were shouldering on one of the mats.  Claire recognized him immediately - Frank Castle.  So Claire hadn’t been wrong.  She _had_ seen Castle in the crowd by the hospital.  And he had been hunting… dear god, it was Spider-Man that Luke was carrying.

Luke’s face was concentrated as he carefully lay the Spider-Man down, but surprisingly left the man laying on his side.

“Claire, after you look at Castle, can you take a look at Spider-Man.  I think he’s in bad shape.”

Claire nodded as she took a box of first aid supplies that Colleen handed to her.  It was a really big box, so much that she couldn’t help but stare in awe at it for a moment.

“Since our run-in with the Hand, I have kept a good stock of those things.  It was for Danny, in case he got hurt,” she said as a valid explanation.

“I’m the immortal Iron Fist … I don’t get hurt that often,” muttered Danny under his breath.

“Of course not.  But you have limited _chi_ , so this would come in handy when you are running low,” said Colleen pointedly.

Danny muttered something else, but Claire didn’t catch it.  But seeing the embarrassed look on the man’s face, she didn’t push to ask him to repeat it.  Instead, she focused on her patient at hand.

Castle looked bad, his face looked like someone had used it as a punching bag.   _Probably was._ The man’s nose was, however, surprisingly not broken.  But what was broken were three of the man’s ribs, which Claire immediately went to bind them.  Once she had done that, Claire set up an IV for Castle.  Where Colleen managed to acquire all the medical stuff, wonders would never cease.

She then moved to check on Spider-Man, to whom Luke had actually not left the side of.  Claire figured at first that it was because he was worried the Spider-Man may attack them unawares.  But in truth, the man was making sure the Spider-Man didn’t roll from his side and aggravate his wounds.

Even at first glance, the Spider-Man looked like he was in bad shape.  No. He didn’t just look it, he _was_ in really bad shape.  There was residual metallic webbing that she had seen at the hospital on him.  It was more concentrated and it had also melted and burned into the man’s suit.  How long the webbing was on him, Claire didn’t know, but it looked like Spider-Man had tried his best to get most of it off him, leaving only a few traces.

The metallic webbing wasn’t what concerned Claire the most, it was instead the damage on the man’s back and then also the gaping hole in the man’s shoulder that was still bleeding freely.

Claire gave a quick intake of breath when she saw the extent of the damage on the Spider-Man’s back.  Shrapnel of scrap metal of various sizes were embedded in him.  The last time she had seen the Spider-Man, he only had a flesh wound caused by a bullet.  Now… now not only was the man’s suit soaked with blood, so dark that it contrasted with his already red suit, but his back...   _My god, what happened to you?_

As if reading her mind, Danny spoke up.

“Spider-Man leapt off an exploding building.  Seemed like he couldn’t keep his grip on the webbing and he fell.  This must have happened when he landed.”

_Or he got caught in the blast, and this was what hit him,_ suspected Claire as she eyed the injury on the man’s back.

Inspecting closer, something caught Claire’s eye.  There, on Spider-Man’s side were five small nails sticking out of his side.   How Luke had managed to bring him back without anything dislodging, was a miracle at best.

By the end of her assessment, Claire knew the man needed a hospital.  She was afraid that if she pulled anything out of the man, he could bleed to death.  And given how much blood he had already lost, any bit of reserve was important.

“He needs to go to the hospital.”

It was a statement, an absolute fact that Claire knew there was no going around.  If the Spider-Man didn’t go to one, she wasn’t sure if he would survive the night.

It was like the magic word for vigilantes, because Spider-Man, who by all means should have remained unconscious, spoke up in a weak voice, “No hospital.  Please.”

The voice, Claire instantly recognized it.  It matched the man that had saved her and over a dozen others from the hospital.  This was the good Spider-Man.  While relief flooded into Claire that they weren’t saving a psychopath, it made her sick to her stomach how badly injured the man was.

“If I don’t take you to the hospital, you’ll die,” she said adamantly.  This wasn’t like Matt’s case that night she discovered his dual identity.  His injuries had been bad, but this, this was so beyond bad.  Claire wasn’t sure if something was wrong with her hearing, but the man sounded really young.

“I,” the man said weakly, “I’ll heal.  I just need some time.”

“I don’t know what kind of healing you have, but these injuries… Spider-Man, you need to go to the hospital.”

“I can’t. Please. No hospital.”

“Spider-Man can’t go into a hospital without being noticed,” said Luke, “but if we unmask him, he could go in there undetected.”

“No, please. I can’t.  Can’t let people know who I am,” insisted the Spider-Man, who was now trying to get up.

_How is he even_ **_getting_ ** _up?_ Wondered Claire.  Most people with injuries like his, they’d be either dead or dying.

“No, you are not going anywhere.  Please, relax.  We... we won’t do anything against your wishes,” said Claire against her better judgment.

At those words, Spider-Man seemed to calm down.   _Good.  Okay, Claire. You just gave an empty promise to a man, because you sure as hell can’t guarantee he’ll survive without a hospital facility_ .  And then another voice in Claire spoke up, _he’s an adult, Claire, he can make his own decisions_.

First, Claire was going to stop the bleeding from his shoulder injury.  It looked terrible, like someone had stabbed him with a pipe or something.  The wound went right through the front to an exit wound from the back shoulder.

Carefully pulling out some gauze from the box of medical supplies, Claire started to staunch the blood flow.   The wound would need stitches, which meant Claire was going to have to administer anesthesia.

“Spider-Man, is there anyone I can contact that can help you?” Asked Claire.

The man looked completely drained, and no doubt the attempt to get up took even more out of him.  All the masked man managed to say was, “Happy...” before he lost consciousness again.

_Okay. Happy.  Are you happy, because no way that was what you meant.  Call your buddy Happy… who would call themselves that?”_

Claire searched for a phone on the Spider-Man, and she found it at a very secured side compartment… that had an unfortunate run in with metallic webbing.  Claire turned to Luke and he understood immediately.  With one hand he pulled the webbing off, tearing out also the cellphone that Claire suspected was hidden there.  The acidic webbing, however, had damaged the mobile beyond repair.

Alright.  No help from Spider-Man’s buddy Happy, Claire had to make do – time to start the anesthesia, stitch up the shoulder wound and then start the removal of the shrapnel and nails from the man.

Claire searched for an entry point to inject the anesthesia in to the man.  Ironically the damage to the suit gave her just that; a tear near the man’s forearm.

As she waited for the anesthesia to take hold, Claire tried to think of the most efficient to get all the shrapnel out.  Some were really deeply embedded, and then there were the cluster of nails on his side.

Claire started with the stitching of his shoulder wound, cleaning it first and then quickly patching him up.  When she finished, the true apprehension came when Claire looked at the Spider-Man’s back.

“I’m going to start removing some of the shrapnel from his back,” stated Claire to no one in particular.

“That looks really bad, like really really bad,” said Colleen as she came to Claire’s side to help her.

“No joke,” said Claire as she took a pair of tweezers and a bottle of alcohol that Colleen passed over to her.  Colleen held in her hand a shallow metal tray, ready to receive the to be removed shrapnel pieces.

Alright here goes it.

“He needs to be at a hospital,” said Colleen drawing in a breath as she watched Claire pull out the first of many pieces of shrapnel.

“That’s what I said,” said Claire and inwardly winced on behalf of Spider-Man as the man jerked in pain.  She had been sure she had injected enough anesthesia to knock any normal person out.   _Well, clearly he’s not normal, Claire._  She’d seen the man in action, and normal was not on that list.

But she was afraid that if she gave him too much anesthesia, it could kill him or worse put him in a coma.   _Okay, maybe just a little more_ .  Claire couldn’t imagine the pain the Spider-Man would be under without the drug.  Carefully, she increased the dosage, and to her relief, the man seemed to quiet down a lot more.   _Okay, let’s try this again._

Claire had removed only eight of the many pieces of shrapnel left on the Spider Man’s body and it was as she feared, the man was losing a lot of blood.  The nails on his side, those were next on her list.  Claire had to be extra careful for that removal.

“Hey, did I miss a memo that we moved the party here?” a voice floated from the hallway to the dojo room.  “You know it’s a good thing I’m a detective.  Luke was supposed to go with me on this lead that might clue in that our favorite devil may actually be alive.“

“Jessica,” it was Luke that spoke, “Sorry I had to run out on you, but we had a bit of an issue that came up.”

Finally Jessica Jones appeared by the doorway, her face nonchalant as her tone of voice was.

“What? An issue bigger than finding Matt?” said Jessica, though suddenly she tensed up when she saw the two new guests.

“Is that… Spider-Man?” Her voice to Claire seemed oddly shakened.

“Yeah, it is.  Before you say anything, Spider-Man, turns out to be a good guy, at least this one.  I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to catch up with the latest news in Hell’s Kitchen, but point is, he’s a friendly, Jess,” said Luke.

“Well, f*ck yeah, he’s a friendly,” snapped Jessica to Luke and everyone’s surprise.  Claire tried not to look up either because she was in the midst of removing the nail.  It was strange hearing Jessica Jones so emotional, because for the times Claire had met the woman, she was pretty much f*ck the world and the stupid asses that live in it attitude.  That and drinking lots and lots of alcohol.  So hearing her so adamant about someone’s innocence without a second thought was not only surprising, but absolutely shocking.

Within a second, the detective was beside Claire and her face went from shock to pure anger. “What the hell happened to him?  Why is he here? He should be at a goddamn hospital!”

“He said he didn’t want to go,” started Claire but was interrupted immediately by Jessica looked absolutely distressed more than she was furious.  Her eyes were watchful as Claire pulled out one of the five nails embedded in Spider-Man’s side.  It wasn’t a short nail, as it turned out, but an inch long one.

 

_Damn._ Claire winced inwardly as she dropped it into the metal tray Colleen held.   _Hang in there Spider-Man, just a few more to go._

“Well, this kid shouldn’t have a choice in the matter.”

“Kid?” Repeated Claire, unsure she heard correctly.

“Man. Whatever he calls himself,” said Jessica suddenly faltering and unsure.  There was a lot of emotion on the woman’s face that Claire couldn’t read, but it was close to panic as the detective had ever let on.

Spider-Man started to cough, and that drew Jessica’s full attention.  “Alright, clear this room, I’m unmasking him.”  It was a blatant statement and left little room for argument.

“And yeah, FYI, I don’t give a crap that crazy trigger happy Frank Castle is being nursed by Glowy fist man.”

“Iron Fist,” muttered Danny.

“Please.  Just drag him out of here, I don't want him knowing Spider-Man’s real identity,” continued Jessica, ignoring Danny’s indignant look about being called glowy fist.“

Luke slowly nodded, but he held the same confused expression as Claire did.  How did Jessica would know that the Spider-Man was good, and why was she protective of him?

 

After what was an awkward silence that followed, Luke finally spoke up.

 

“Um. Okay, let’s just move Mr. Castle to the next room.  Be back in a minute.”

***

**Claire Temple**

Once Luke, Colleen and Danny had left the main room of the dojo with Castle, Jessica proceeded to remove Spider-Man’s mask, though for a second she hesitated.

“You can trust me, Jessica.  I know a lot of secret identities.  Spider-Man will just add to my roster,” said Claire, understanding her concern.

“Trust me when I tell you don’t really want to know who he is,” she said with a sigh as she cradled Spider-Man’s head gently on her lap before peeling off the mask.

As Spider-Man’s identity was revealed to Claire, it rendered her completely speechless, even her heart felt like it stopped for a moment.  No shit.

“He’s just a kid.  Oh my God.  What the hell… what in hell is he doing running into burning buildings?!”

“Burning buildings?” repeated Jessica.

Oh well, she doesn’t know that this kid ran into a burning building, got shot at even.  And shit, probably went through more after the Punisher got his sights on him.  God damn it.  He’s a kid. At most… what 14 or 15 years old?

“Nevermind,” said Claire shaking her head not wanting to get into it at the moment.

“Is his condition, as bad as it looks?” asked Jessica worriedly.

“It is.  That’s why I wanted to get him to a hospital.  But he said no… but I think in the end, he may have been right. I gave him anesthesia, and he needed way more than the normal person.  The hospital staff might find it strange, and I’m thinking any bloodwork done on him would only prove that he’s... different from normal people.”

“Yeah, I get that,” said Jessica and then she paused, “kid’s got some healing capabilities.  He should be okay.”

Though even as Jessica said that, Claire could detect clear uncertainty in her voice.  After removing the mask, Spider-Man, no… the kid, seemed to breathe a lot easier.  Of course there wouldn’t be much comfort having to wear a mask all the time.

It was quiet for a moment as Claire started back with removing the remaining nails embedded in the kid’s side before she couldn’t hold back the question on her mind.

“So, how did you meet the kid? Spider-Man I mean.”

“He saved Trish’s life.”

“Your sister?”

“Yeah.”

And then silence.   _Not much of a conversationalist, are you?_ Thought Claire.  But in some ways that was better that way since she needed to focus anyway.  Claire would ask another time about how the two had crossed paths.

“Do you know if he has a support team, like maybe the Avengers or something?”

Claire really wanted to know if there was some other safer way to help the kid.  With the tools and the experience she had, Claire honestly didn’t know if she could save the kid.  Knowing that there was an alternate solution, it would really help at the moment.

“I know that does this solo for the most part, but I’m pretty sure Tony Stark supplied this fancy suit.”

 

_Then Happy must have been someone that works for Tony Stark._  Damn, Claire wished the cell phone hadn’t been damaged in the attack.

“No shit.  Where does that ego end?  He’s enabling a kid to do this?”

“Yeah,” agreed Jessica, though Claire could see there was something she was holding back.

Claire, however, didn’t probe and asked instead, “You have anyway of contacting him?”

“Stark?”

“Yeah.”

“Hell, I wish.  I would love to tell him something else.”

_You’re not the only one._

 

“You didn’t find a cellphone on the kid?”

 

“Luke and I did, but it was too badly damaged in the attack.”

 

“Shit.”

 

“Yeah.  Agreed.”

 

Silence.

 

“You’re doing a good job,” said Jessica suddenly.

 

She looked up at the woman, slightly surprised at the rare compliment coming from her.  Claire’s lips curved slightly at the praise before returning her focus again on removing another one of the nails from the kid’s side.

In Claire’s mind, as she worked on the kid, she was still reeling at discovery that Spider-Man was just a child.  A young kid that should have been spending his days hanging out with his friends, going to school, having fun.  This shit that the kid got involved with, this wasn’t right at all.  Running into burning buildings, avoiding getting shot, falling off buildings... this wasn’t something that should have been burdened on a child.  The danger that the kid put himself in front of was wrong on so many levels that it Claire made a mental note to talk to the him once he was patched up.  That and also where Tony Stark fit in all of it as well. _Yeah, you and I, we’re going to talk kid.  So you had better pull through._

And Claire intended to use everything in her ability to make sure Spider-Man lived through the night, even if it was just to lecture the kid on basic survival skills.


	6. Chapter 6

**Frank Castle / The Punisher**

Frank Castle woke to a splitting headache, which was something of a surprise because he didn’t expect to wake at all.  When the kid had said the cryptic words of not being given a break, Frank hadn’t caught on.  It wasn’t until they were in f*cking midair off the building and a series of explosions started, Frank realized what a fool he was to think Russo didn’t have a backup plan in place.  

While Russo appeared to be mentally unstable, the man was still the same person Frank worked with in the two tours in Afghanistan.  A part of him considered the chance the man might have also been killed in his own blast, but for as long Frank knew Russo, he’d never be that stupid.

Russo was like a bug that you just couldn’t kill.  If there was ever a time that Frank regretted not ending the bastard’s life when he had the chance, it was now.  He had wasted it and gone the route of just bashing in the man’s face a few times.  Okay, maybe it was _more_ than few times.  If Frank knew the man was going to come out the f*cking coma with super goddamn powers, he would have made sure to put the man 6 feet under.  Instead, the assh*le was running around town killing and hurting the people he cared about.  Leo.  Zack.   Just so he could get back at Frank.

_This is all my fault._

As the symphony of explosions timely went off one by one, Frank couldn’t help but curse the man.

_Such a f*cking artist, Russo._

Russo to add some fun shit to his homemade explosive device, had bounded metal shards to them, making them into shrapnel bombs.  So when they exploded, fragments of metal also came along with the blast.

While Frank knew that Spider-Man was doing his best in saving his sorry ass, he knew he was a dead man when a cluster of shrapnel came his way.  It was so close to him, that Frank could almost taste the metal.  This changed when the kid suddenly changed in trajectory.  Like an Olympic athlete, the Spider-Man twisted in mid-air and tossed Frank way from the danger.  The move saved Frank’s life, because if the  kid had missed the beat by a second, he was pretty sure his face would have matched that of Darkman; minus the breathing part.

 _Kid’s a freakin’ psychic_.

The fall lasted about a second or two - not that Frank was counting - before Spider-Man dove down and caught him.  He gripped onto the kid’s neck, feeling guilty as hell when he felt the dampness on his forearm.  The shoulder wound, it was still bleeding and very badly too.  Not only that, but Frank saw that Spider-Man hadn’t been able to avoid getting hit by the cluster of scrap metal.  The kid’s back, from Frank’s angle, looked like a bloody mess of metal meeting flesh.

Frank could feel the strain the kid was under, trying desperately to hold on to the webbing that was keeping both of them from falling to their deaths.  But the blood loss and the injuries sustained pre and post explosion, it had taken a toll.  Frank was pretty sure if it was just the kid himself, he could have handled it.  But he, Frank Castle, was _weighing_ the kid down, like a f*cking anchor.

“Kid, let me go,” he said.  

“No,” it was a strained, but damn firm. “No one... no one’s dying tonight.  I’m not going to let anyone else die, not on my watch.”

Frank knew he was referring to the Iron Fist whom Russo had tossed over the side of the building like yesterday’s trash.

“Kid-,” he started to say when suddenly Frank felt the drop as the Spider-Man lost his grip.  It was a second or two before the kid tried again to grip something to slow their fall.  He did, but it didn’t last long, though this time it was no fault of the kid’s at all; the anchor he used broke off.  The Spider-Man tried again, but his webshooters were jammed, and suddenly they were falling, at full velocity.   The Spider-Man, however, held onto him, making sure that he stayed between the ground and Frank.

 _Shit_.

If Frank didn't know that Spider-Man was a good guy, he wouldn’t have cared.  If he didn’t know that he was also a kid - how old, he couldn’t tell from the dim lighting - Frank wouldn’t have felt the guilt gutting him as the ground rushed to meet them.

But knowing any of this, it didn’t help the situation.  They were falling, and falling fast.

And that had been his last memory before he woke with a splitting headache and an audience of three faces - The Iron Fist and two others - peering over him.

“I’ll let Claire know he’s awake,” said one of them, a slender faced Asian woman.  The Iron fist nodded, and she disappeared from Frank’s view.

“How are you feeling?” Asked the Iron Fist.

“Like I’ve fallen from a f*cking building, what does it look like?” Then he paused and stared at the Iron Fist, “I guess you are really immortal since you’re still standing.”

“He used his  _chi_ to heal himself,” said the other man in the room before he introduced himself.

 _Healing powers, now that’s something pretty useful,_ mused Frank.

“Hi, I’m Luke Cage.  This is Danny, which you probably met already.”

“I did,” confirmed Frank, “Thanks for your attempt in saving my life,” nodding to Danny, “but you need some lessons in aiming.  You shot the wrong f*cking guy.”

“The other Spider-Man, he just threw him in my line of fire,” said Danny indignantly and rather annoyed.

For Frank, however, he didn’t really care about hurting the man’s feelings.  He had had other worries.

“Where’s the Spider-Man?”

“The guy’s in the other room.  He’s in pretty bad shape.”

“Take me to him,” said Frank as he tried to get up.  As he did that, Frank felt a wave of nausea overwhelm him.

“Ah, you’re not going anywhere, Mr. Castle,” said a woman as she entered the room.   

Frank stared at her and deduced this must have been the Claire the Asian woman had mentioned.  The woman’s clothing was covered in blood, and considering she didn’t look like she was wounded at all, Frank could only guess whose blood that was.

_The kid’s._

“Take me to the Spider-Man,” he repeated, despite feeling sick to his stomach.  Frank wasn’t sure if it was because of the concussion he had or if it was thought that the kid he’d been hunting all night could be dead because of him.

Maybe it was both.

Either way, Frank needed to see the kid.    

“Look, it’s not a good idea -,”

Frank, however, didn’t give a crap to what she had to say next, because he’d ripped out the IV and began to move.  

He, however, didn’t get far.  An iron grip landed on his shoulder, one so strong that Frank was pretty sure if any more pressure was applied, his bones would have cracked.  The hand belonged to Luke Cage.

Immediately, Frank clued in;  vigilantes liked to team up.  Just like those damn Avengers.  Though nowadays they weren’t much of a team at all, given that more than half of them were branded as war criminals.   Fun times to be a superhero.  

“Just take me to the kid.”

There was a moment of startledness in Claire before she responded, “You know his identity?”  

Frank nodded and noticed he wasn’t the only one surprised in the room.  Luke and Danny both had the same questioning look, _kid?_

“Yeah.  The other assh*le, he unmasked the kid.  Just... let me see if he’s alright,” said Frank in a more calmer tone.  He noticed that Luke’s grip had eased and then eventually, his hand released his shoulder completely.  

“Kid saved my life.  I just want to make sure he’s okay.  Please.  I don’t have any weapons or anything.  And if I try anything, I’m sure Luke here can crack me in half.”

At that, Claire grinned slightly.

_God, these guys have darker humour than me._

“Fine.  We’ll bring you to him.  But in turn, you tell us what happened in that building.”

Frank nodded.  “Lady, I’ll tell you every f*cking detail you wanna know.”

 

*******

 

Once they entered into the main dojo room, Frank saw the kid’s back, where the bandages that Claire had put on him, had soaked through with fresh blood.  

_F*ck.  Russo, when I get my chance to kill you, I’m not letting it go.  You are a deadman._

Slowly, Frank approached the unconscious Spider-Man, wary of course of the slender darker haired woman who cradled the kid’s head on her lap.  

“ _Why the hell is that assh*le doing here?”_

“Take it easy, Jessica, he just wants to see how the man that saved his life was doing,” said Luke as he too approached the Spider-Man, no doubt curious of his identity.

With the poor lighting in the building site, and the fact that blood had obscured much of his vision, he had only been able to make out that the Spider-Man was a young.  But never did he imagine the kid to be _this_ young.  

_He’s just a child.  A goddamn child!  Russo, you prick, you put a pipe through this kid?_

The scream of agony from the kid when Russo had impaled him with the pipe still echoed in Frank's ears.

A voice spoke up in Frank though, countering his thoughts.   _Why would you expect him to be any different?  You think he grew a soul after he killed your family? The bastard is a f*cking psycho.  He’d eat a baby if it benefited him._

Frank slowly settled to the floor, knowing that if he didn’t he’d likely fall over.

Russo hadn’t lied.  F*ck.  And Frank himself, he’d been shooting at this kid with god knows how much ammo all night long. And still the boy had had not only taken a f*cking pipe through the shoulder to save Frank, but also a hit of shrapnel to the back and the burnt of a fall that any normal person would have died from.

Feeling his voice caught in his throat, it took him a minute to find it.

“Is he going to live?”

“Not sure yet.  I’ve gotten most of the shrapnel out of him, given him antibiotics to fight off chance of infection... but it’s the blood loss I’m worried about,” said Claire, clear unease in her voice as she wrapped a fresh set of bandages around the boy.

 _She must be the resident person that these guys go to for patching up,_ Frank realized.

“So, Frank, what the hell happened up there?” Claire asked, though still focused on the task on hand.

Frank pursed his lips, still unable to look away from the kid in front of him.  Seeing the Spider-Man unmasked with a face of a child underneath, it unsettled Frank more than he led on.  Why was this kid out there, risking his life like that, knowing full well that half of New York City was out for his blood?

_So what is the story, Frank?  Where should you start?  From when you started to sniper him down, or when you shocked him with the STARK weapon?_

Just as Frank opened his mouth to tell his side of the story, the kid suddenly opened his eyes.  Glassy as they were, there was an urgency in them.  For some reason, Frank had a feeling it wasn’t to greet or thank them.  Two words, laced in pain, left the kid’s lips that made Frank instantly tense up.

“He’s here.”

_Ah Shit.  Story time would have to wait._

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Jessica Jones**

_Aw come on, seriously?_ Groaned Jessica inwardly as the second story windows to the dojo shattered at the same time the lights to the dojo went out.

Then there stood, the “Spider-Man”, posing in a most dramatic stance.  

_Geez, is this guy in his own world?_

Jessica had really hoped to get more of the story from Castle before seeking out the crazy doppelganger of Spider-Man.  From what Claire had told her, the guy had the exact same powers as Spider-Man, but with a few twists – he could shoot solidifying webs and apparently laid eggs.  Jessica honestly didn’t think she heard correctly the latter special power, but Claire had nodded in affirmation that she hadn’t misheard.

Whatever this guy’s MO was, Jessica honestly didn’t care.  She and the other “Defenders” – a stupid ass “team” name that Danny Rand had come up with - could take him on and Claire would just have to get the kid out of there.  Even in the short time she had come to know Peter as Spider-Man, Jessica knew the kid’s personality – he would fight to end to protect anyone from getting hurt. And it wasn’t just an insight, Jessica had witnessed it; and it was something she didn’t want to see again.

Jessica hadn’t been oblivious to the looks she received when she concern for Peter.  In fact, it actually surprised herself since she’d never was known for being a coddler type.  It was such a distant truth to her usual personality even _she_ felt weird about it.

The first time she had spotted Peter in his Spider-Man suit swinging around in Queens, she had been investigating a missing person case.  The kid, clad in his blue and red tights was saving a stupid cat from a tree. Jessica had rolled her eyes inwardly. Cute…but Jesus, if this was the direction superheroes were heading towards, Jessica was damned glad she wasn’t one of them.  She belonged more in the anti-hero category.

When Danny Rand, aka Iron Fist had coined their team as “The Defenders” shortly after the Hand incident, she had all but rolled her eyes and left the lot of them for a drink at a bar.  Having seen the Spider-Man guy play boy scout in Queens, made Jessica have no regrets on walking out on the ‘dream team’ and returning to her usual drinking binge.

Nothing would have, or should have changed Jessica’s mind on the ‘friendly neighborhood’ Spider-Man, but then the incident with Trish entered the picture and Jessica saw she couldn’t judge everything from its cover.  She owed a personal debt to the kid, and while she usually was more begrudging to pay up, somehow Peter’s earnest work in keeping his district of Queens safe, struck a cord with Jessica.

 _He reminds me of Matt Murdoch_ , concluded Jessica in her mind.   _But lacking the anger management issues, and having actual super powers._

She at the time only had Spider-Man’s first name, Peter, but with her investigative skills, it should have been easy to figure out the rest.  But to her surprise, getting information on the kid was actually quite difficult.  His information and details were well hidden – a bit too well in fact. Jessica knew that someone was protecting him, and she had an idea on who it was.  The fancy suit gave much of it away.  This was promptly confirmed when said person paid her a personal visit.

The rich assh*le had just strolled into her office and told her straight up, shut down her investigation of Peter, or he would make sure Alias Detective Agency never saw the light of day again.   Peter was under his protection, so she, Jessica Jones, should stay out of Spider-Man’s business.

Jessica had wanted to throw Tony Stark out the moment he entered – in the most literal sense, but after his frank statements about protecting the kid, she got a look underneath a crack in the armor of the billionaire.  The man cared about Peter, despite hiding it under a ton of arrogance and assh*leness. Seeing that the kid was under the guidance of the Tony Stark, though, hadn’t exactly made Jessica feel any better.

But knowing the kid at least had someone to watch his back when he needed it, that was something.

Which of course made Jessica wonder in the present, where the f*ck was Tony Stark now?  The kid was hurt badly by some assh*le who decided to use Hell’s Kitchen as his personal playground and Iron Man was nowhere in sight.

If Stark wasn’t going to put the crazy man in place, Jessica was going to do it first, and then later have a pissed off chat with him.

The “Spider-Man” stood in front of them, planting his grimy muddy feet on the pristine floor of the Chikara Dojo.

“Aw aren’t you guys cozy?” The man drawled out, sounding ever so pleased.

“F*ck you, Russo,” growled out Castle as he stood up – rather unsteadily – poising himself to attack the man.

_So that’s the guys name, Russo.  So much easier than calling him Spider-Man but not._

If Jessica could have seen the face beneath the mask, she would have guess the man to be grinning ear to ear given the pleased tone that he cooed his next words to them.

“Surprised the little fireworks I left for you didn’t kill you.  But should have known, having little Spider-ling here… Kinda shocked the kid’s still breathing.”

“Mind stopping to talk like I’m not in the room?” said a very hoarse sounding Peter.

“Actually, I do mind,” said Russo coolly.  “I had a grand plan, you know, torturing the shit out of Frankie here.  But who’d have thought, you, a little twit was actually a worthy adversary.”

“Um. I’ll try and take that as a compliment,” said Peter, trying to hold a glare at Russo despite looking completely drained.

“You really shouldn’t.  It just means I have to make sure you die for messing up my plans.”

“Did your plans include us in it? Or have you lost your f*cking eyesight while blowing up the last building?”

Russo snapped his attention to Jessica’s rather pissed off commentary.

“Oh.  You don’t think I’m actually here to literally fight one on one with you, right?” The man scoffed off the words as if it were the most ridiculous idea in the world.

“F*ck Frankie, you have the most dense friends.”

In unison they all responded with, “We’re not friends.”

“Well. Either way,” said Russo breaking the awkward silence that had followed, “while Frankie here was sleeping, I’ve been quite busy.  You’ll like my surprise… maybe not so much, but I will enjoy seeing your face when you see it –“

“Would someone please just shut the assh*le up?” said Jessica.  She was all for people gloating, but if this guy was as dangerous as everyone made him out to be, kicking him in the nuts while he was monologuing seemed like the right thing to do.

Luke acted first, being the closest to Russo, made a strike towards the guy’s face.

 _Guess you are going to have to fight with us, one on one, bastard._  

Russo, however, had lightning reflexes and caught Luke’s fist in one motion.  He attempted to crush Luke’s hand as well, but given that Luke also had super strength, that was not happening.

Jessica couldn’t help but grin inwardly at Russo’s surprise.

_That’s right shithead, you’re not the only one here with powers._

Russo attempted to throw Luke off with the webs that Claire had mentioned, all of which didn’t even faze the man least.  The problem was Russo’s advantage with his super agility. Even though there were more of them, and only one of him, they were unfortunately not getting much actual contact.

At the corner of Jessica’s eyes, she could see Danny was preparing to attack, though it was worth noting that his infamous Iron fist was not lit up per usual.

 _Probably still recharging that ying yang stuff he’s always talking about_.

In honesty, Jessica hoped Danny didn’t use his powers at all, because it could seriously help the kid.  She had heard from Colleen that Danny’s Iron Fist could heal injuries.

Colleen and Castle flanked behind Danny, ready to take on Russo as well.

“We should go,” said Claire as she proceeded to lift the Spider-Man up.  Jessica nodded in agreement.

“Wait, I should stay and fight --,” started Peter but Jessica cut him off.

“Look, kid, I know you want to, and I would let you, usually.  But you are in no condition, got it?

Peter blinked at her for a second and opened his mouth again, “But I can help –“

“What would Tony Stark say at this point?”

The kid swallowed his words at the mention of the billionaire.  God, Peter really looked up to that self-absorbed man, thought Jessica incredulously.

_A man who isn’t even here to back you up, kid._

“He’d say I’m out.”

“And he’d be right.”

The kid remained silent, deep in thought as his eyes carefully watched the fight going on in front of him.

“You okay getting the kid outta here?  I’m going to stick around and bat this guy around a bit,” said Jessica as she too turned to look at Russo fighting with the others.

“Be my guest.  What’s our rendezvous point?”

“My office?  Not as spacious, but better than nothing.”

“You fixed the door yet?”

Jessica made a face at that, “Yeah.  Alias Detective Agency is open for business.”

“Sounds serious.”

“It is.”

“New clients?”

“Some, but not much recently.”

“Guess not a good time to ask why?”

“No.  You should get moving,” said Jessica noting that team Defenders and Castle weren’t faring so well. “I’ll let the others know the meeting location.”

Russo’s agility was taking up another notch, and if Jessica didn’t know better, the man was having fun.  Danny and Castle took turns in fighting with the man, interweaving with Luke. Colleen used her Katana on the masked man, keeping at an arms length, but still, the woman kept slicing through air.  While the webbing didn’t harm Luke in the least, it wasn’t the same with the other three. Jessica needed to help out.

Claire took the lead in helping Peter up as Jessica blocked them from Russo’s view.  She saw Russo look her way and there was a pause, but then he just went on fighting with the other Defenders.

 _Well, that’s interesting_ , thought Jessica as she rushed forward to take a swing at Russo.  Just as he had dodged the other Defender’s attacks, Jessica also hit air.  The man was fast and it didn’t help that he had military training. Even as she fought with Russo, something about the man’s dismissal of Spider-Man and Claire leaving bugged her.  Russo had said he wanted the Spider-Man dead so why would he so easily just let him walk out of there? After a few more missed strikes against Russo, Jessica was clipped in the shoulder by the man.  The force of it sent her flying back, striking against the back wall of the dojo.

 _Jesus, this guy is strong_.

Jessica guessed that Peter if he didn’t hold back, probably could do the same.  Made her thankful that such powers was granted to someone who wasn’t psychotic… or an overly angst teenage bully.

As she took the moment to recover from the blow, Jessica’s eyes were drawn to the muddy footprints Russo had left on the dojo floor.  Under the moonlight’s cast, she had a moment of revelation as she saw clearly what “grime” the man left on the floor. It wasn’t just mud, it was mud caked with blood.

_The assh*le must have killed again… and why he didn’t stop Peter and Claire from leaving… shit, this couldn’t be good.  He must have thought ahead, brought the cops here._

The realization came too late because she heard a shout, and then shots fired downstairs.

 _F*ck_.

Without missing a beat, Jessica raced past the fight with Russo, through the hallway and down the stairs.

Once Jessica reached the bottom of the steps, she saw spiders, a lot of them.  They were f*cking everywhere and wait… were they exploding? Holy shit, this was creepy - Claire hadn’t said anything about this being one of Russo’s super powers.

“Guys!” She called out, but was met with silence.

_Shit, this wasn’t good.  Must proceed with caution, Jess.  Let’s not make them a target._

“Claire!  Peter!” She called out in hushed whisper.

_Damn, slip of the tongue, Jessica.  Great at keeping everything secret, except a guy’s secret identity._

But right now wasn’t the time to worry about things like this – lives were at stake.

The lack of response from Claire and Peter made Jessica nervous.  It never bode well when people didn’t respond.

Her fear only grew when she heard a painful groan when she rounded the corner of the hallway.

The kid was down.  Claire had removed his mask, to make it easier for him to breathe.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’ve got you,” said Claire.

Jessica could see that the woman’s hands were slightly shaking as she added pressure to the kid’s wound.  Claire, who she had come to admire in the most dire of circumstances in keeping a cool head, she was scared.  That meant to Jessica it must have been a bad hit.

 _Tell me it’s a damn graze_ , prayed Jessica inwardly.

When Jessica got close enough, she saw how bad it actually was.

 _Ah shit, kid_.

Peter _was_ hit – it was a side wound.  Normally, it wouldn’t have been too bad, but from the amount of blood the kid had already lost, this could very well be the tipping point.

The bad thing was, they really couldn’t stay where they were.  Jessica didn’t need special senses to know that the cops were just regrouping enough so that they could storm through the doors.  They needed to move _now_.

“Can we move him?” asked Jessica, though she already knew the answer.

“We shouldn’t,” said Claire, though she too eyed the back door, anticipating the cops entrance any moment.

“We can’t stay here.  They’ll be through that in less than a minute.  They’re probably hesitant only because they think Spider-Man’s got a hostage.”

Claire nodded in agreement.

“Think they’ll take my statement that Peter’s innocent?”

Jessica froze for a moment, realizing that Claire had heard her call out his name.

“I feel like even if you told them the truth, they’re not going to believe it until they have Spider-Man in custody.  And you know what that means.”

“They’ll want to know his identity.”

“Which is more dangerous than anything else.”

“The Sokovia Accords.”

Jessica nodded.  “As it is, I’m not that high on the radar, and while I have superpowers, I’m not to the scale this kid has it.  The governments’ going to take him, make him sign.”

“And if he doesn’t…”

“Maybe he’ll get locked up.”

“What about Stark?  Can’t he do something?”

“Never much liked the guy, so can’t say,” said Jessica shaking her head.  “Claire, we’re going to have to move him, _now_.”

Jessica was sensing movement from outside - they were moving into position.

Claire nodded and said a quiet apology as she shifted out of position for Jessica to grab hold of Peter.

The kid didn’t even make a sound, making Jessica even more concerned.

“Let’s move,” said Jessica, scooping up the kid’s mask and making a beeline back upstairs.

***

Just as they made it to the top of the stairs, Jessica heard the crash through the backdoor.  The cops had officially stormed through the building, which meant they had little time to get out.

Racing towards the dojo’s doors, Jessica opened her mouth to warn them of the new company they had but the words lodged in her throat when she saw the scene in front of her.

When Jessica had last left the dojo, it did not look this destroyed.  Russo was long gone it seemed, along with Castle. Luke, was still there, but he held a worried expression on his face as he knelt by a fallen Colleen.  On her other side was Danny, who was gripping her hand tightly, willing her to hang on.

Gently, Claire leaned Peter against Jessica and rushed to Colleen’s side.

“Colleen, can you hear me?” said Claire as she assessed the woman’s injuries.

“Claire?” Colleen’s voice was so weak it was worriesome.  Danny lit up his fist, but Colleen shook her head and said softly, “Danny, you’re not recovered yet.”

“I can do this.  I can,” Danny insisted, his face glistened with blood and sweat, and lit up his fist to begin healing her.

Luke passed some medical supplies to Claire who nodded in thanks.  “Thanks, Luke.”

The sound of rapid footsteps brought Jessica back to the issue at hand.

They couldn’t move Colleen, not in her state.  And Peter… Jessica realized the kid was awake. If his face had been pale before, it had literally no colour now.  There was horror in his eyes as he looked at the gravely injured Colleen.

And then their eyes met.

“I’m sorry,” said Peter, his voice seemed so broken, filled with guilt.

“Kid, it’s not your fault --,” started Jessica.

“I’m so sorry,” he repeated, as a tear fell from his face.  

And then suddenly Jessica found herself webbed up by Peter.  He then reached over and took back his mask from her hand, slipping it on quickly.  Luke made a move towards Peter, to stop him from whatever noble self-guilt driven idea he had in his head, but the kid was too fast.  

One second Peter was there in the dojo with them, and the next, he had leapt out the same window Russo had made his entrance.  Jessica heard shots fired, and all she could do was hope that the kid was able to dodge the mad hail of bullets that came at him.

Moments later, a swat team, and several of New York City’s finest officers entered the dojo, their guns trained on them.

“Freeze, and put your hands up!”

Slowly, Jessica raised hers, along with Luke and Claire.  Colleen was semi conscious, Danny... he was completely out of commission.   

This night, which was suppose to be a intel gathering one to find Matt Murdock, was turning into a f*cking nightmare.  Russo was out there terrorizing Hell's Kitchen, Castle was kidnapped, and Peter... was alone and hurt somewhere out there.  And Jessica was going to be stuck with the cops and likely undergo hours of questioning.  

Yeah, this was turning out to be a real shitty night. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Frank Castle / The Punisher**

Things had gone to hell very quickly when Russo showed up at the dojo. Frank hadn’t expected to be ‘rescued’ by people with super powers, but Luke and the dark haired woman he didn’t know, they seemed pretty solid in holding their own against Russo. Having ultra strength as a super power was of course a serious advantage. Add that and Iron Fist and Colleen, and Frank himself – sorta – it should have been a sure win.

He was wrong.

Russo was nearly untouchable, landing a punch on him was like spotting the Easter Bunny, and given that it didn’t exist, it just meant a whole lot of hitting nothing and getting beaten the shit out of. The most annoying thing was the fact that Russo was clearly toying with them. It was nothing to the same amount of frustration he had when the kid was fighting him.

 _The kid_.

Jesus Christ, Frank had been freaked out to no extent when he saw how old the Spider-Man was. He was a _child_. And Frank had been aiming kill shots at him with his sniper all night. Yet the kid had _still_ saved his life. He owed him more lives than he could count. The chilling thing was, he wasn’t sure if he could even repay it.

Frank had heard the shots fired downstairs that had sent the dark haired woman racing out of the dojo. He honestly wanted to follow too, but really, he was of no help. He was pretty damn sure his right leg was broken, or worse, suffering from multiple fractures. The ribs that the nurse Claire had binded earlier, they had all come undone, and he was pretty sure he’d rebroken or broken more of them. This left Frank with only one thing he could do – which was to watch as Russo f*cking beat the shit out of everyone in the room.

After the shots downstairs had fired off, there was a twitch in Russo that Frank recognized. The bastard had _planned_ this. He was waiting for the cue, playing along with them until the cops came.

When Russo decided to stop the roleplaying, he immediately went for Colleen. Frank saw it first and cried out a warning, but it was already too late. The man grabbed hold of the Katana that the woman was using and ripped it from her hands. In one swift motion, he grabbed hold of Colleen and held the blade to her throat.

If Frank could have seen Russo’s face, it would have been a bonafide grin. All time seemed to freeze in the dojo, with Luke looking shocked, and Iron Fist completely helpless.

“Colleen!” Iron Fist had cried out. There wasn’t any doubt in Frank’s mind that there was something going on between the two of them given the tension in the man’s shoulders seeing her taken as hostage. Despite the danger she was in, Colleen had no fear in her eyes, just a ferocious anger that was evident in her eyes. Russo tightened his grip on her and brought the blade even closer to her throat when he saw them move forward to aid her. The Katana was so close, that it bit into Colleen’s neck, leaving a thin line of red.

“Now back away guys, otherwise I might cut her up a bit more than you can fix.”

“What, you need to hold a woman hostage to get your way, you little pr*ck,” Frank had growled out.

Russo had let out a laugh that chilled Frank to the bone.

“I do this because I find it amusing, Frankie. That it bothers _you_. Just for them to know, they’re in this mess because they’re protecting you. Now if you just calmly come along with me, I might spare this little woman.”

“We don’t negotiate with crazy people,” said Luke before Frank could say anything.

“I’m not negotiating, not in the least. It’s more like, if you don’t do as I ask, I will most definitely kill her,” replied Russo, as he tightened his grip on Colleen, making her cry out involuntarily.

Frank knew what Russo was capable of. They’d done tours together, they’d killed lots of people, and Frank wouldn’t be surprised to add women and children to the roster. _He was willing to let your family die, remember? This was the guy that your kids would call Uncle Billy fondly, all the while he didn’t care enough to stop Rawlins form setting them up to be killed._ No, Russo wasn’t the type of person to bluff, not in this situation. There was really enough blood on Frank’s hands that he didn’t need anymore people to pay for it with their lives.

“Let her go, I’ll come with you, Russo.”

“Castle, you can’t --,” started Luke, but Frank had made up his mind. With great difficulty, he got up and started to walk towards the man.

“Good Frankie, maybe there’s hope in you yet. 

“F*ck you,” grunted out Frank as he made his way.

Russo just laughed at his curse.

“Now let her go,” said Frank when he finally reached where the man was standing. 

“Okay, Frankie. I do keep my promises.”

Without much as a word after that, Russo released Colleen much to Frank’s surprise. But that had been short-lived, and something Frank should have seen coming. Maybe it was the concussion, or maybe he had been hoping for something good left in the man, but that was just a fool’s hope.

Russo, as Colleen stepped forward out of his grip, thrust forward the Katana in his hand. It embedded into her back, pushing through just enough to see the silver of the blade in her abdomen. The man then yanked the katana out and shoved her forward. Iron Fist immediately rushed forward to catch her.

Russo wasted no time in making a grab for Frank after tossing the Katana to the ground. It was the second time this night that Frank had been taken in a fireman’s hold out of a building.

Frank of course hadn’t allowed himself to be taken by Russo without a plan. Even if the plan was to use a shard of glass from the broken window and stabbing him in the neck with it.

But the assh*le _knew_ it. And once they were out of the dojo window, he’d said quite so: “Frankie, if you’re planning to stab with the shard you have in your back pocket, I’ll make sure I drop you here right now, and go back for your friends.”

It wasn’t an idle threat and with everything that happened so far, Frank didn’t want to risk it.

God damn it. He hated losing. And losing to a f*cking nutjob, that was even worse.

**Peter Parker/Spider-Man**

Peter hurt. He hurt everywhere. But the physical pain, it didn’t match to the nightmarish scene he had seen in the dojo.

The woman, Colleen, laying there, bleeding, dying. This was all his fault. If he had been stronger, if he could have taken down the Russo guy then his new found saviors, they wouldn’t have become targets. They wouldn’t have gotten hurt because of him. The only thing he could do for them was to leave, get out of there and take down Russo somehow on his own.

Peter wasn’t crazy thinking that he could fight take on Russo, especially not in his state. The man, as much as Peter didn’t want to admit, was a lot stronger than him. This might have been the fact that the man hadn’t been shot by the STARK weapon multiple times, but there was something else that he suspected was amping the guys powers.

The dash out of the dojo’s window wasn’t all it was cut out to be either. Between his still gravely injured shoulder and the gunshot wound, there was little hope in keeping his swings looking graceful. Peter was lucky that he even made it past the string of bullets that fired at him when he exited through the window. His survival really was attributed to his spidey sense, otherwise he’d have been literally swiss cheesed in bullet holes.

His swing took him, however, only as far as the adjacent rooftop where he unceremoniously crashed into the ground. It had hurt like crazy and the sting would normally have been enough to keep him from wanting to move, but the survival instinct in him told him otherwise. It was either Peter got up and started to weave his way out of the blockade the cops had set up, or he’d be caught… or killed. Considering the amount of firepower that was being used on him, there was no question that there was no chance of being taken alive. Shoot first ask questions later. Things had definitely escalated since the construction site, and Peter suspected it was because Russo had done some really horrible stuff while he'd been out of commission. This of course made Peter feel further burdened with guilt. He should have figured out a way to apprehend him earlier.

The search for a ‘safe’ spot took a while, and by the time he found one, Peter was so exhausted that he didn’t even care that the place looked super sketchy.

From the dojo, Peter had navigated quickly as he could to somewhere he could just recoup, lay down and rest a sec. Just a moment. It wasn’t really asking for too much. He finally found another old abandoned side building with a rooftop, and it wasn’t a moment too soon because another minute, he wouldn’t have been able to hold on to his web. Nearly collapsing on the ground of the rooftop, he leaned his back against one of the chimney supports.

God. He was so tired. Everything that had hurt before, it now just felt like heavy weight on him. His eyes burned, his face felt really hot too. He removed his mask, and took in a deep breath of the chilled night air. It was so refreshing.

Even though Peter could hear the sound of sirens not too far from where he sat, in honesty, he was too tired to care. He could just sleep right where he was. Just sleep. It would be so nice.

“Kid, I really don’t think this is a good time to sleep.”

The voice, Peter knew it well – Mr. Stark! Snapping his eyes open, he saw him, his mentor, Tony Stark, dressed in his expensive black suit, looking at him with worried eyes.

_No, it can’t be him…can it?_

“Mr. Stark?” said Peter, though it sounded like a croak. He was so parched. What he wouldn’t do for a glass of water.

The man nodded slowly then answered, “Yeah. Sorta. I’m more like your subconscious’s Mr. Stark actually,” confessed Imaginary Tony.

Made sense. Tony wasn’t even wearing his Iron man Suit. Though he could easily have just stepped out of it. But there was of course the demur in the man that was completely different.

“Yeah, I didn’t think you would come here wearing just your suit.” 

“Smart kid.” 

“Yeah. Real smart to put myself in this situation.”

“Well, you know, since you got yourself into this mess, you should figure out a way out of it. Sleeping it off, honestly especially in your current condition, it’s not a good idea.”

“I know… but I’m so tired.” 

“Kid, what do I always say when you feel like that?”

“No sleeping on the job?” 

“I just… I just can’t. Everything, everything’s gone wrong, Mr. Stark.”

“Has it?”

“It has. Everything. I came to Hell’s Kitchen to stop the killer.”

“Russo?”

Peter nodded weakly, “Yeah, him. But… I didn’t stop him. I wasn’t strong enough. And then…then the people who came to save me, I put them in danger.” He couldn’t help but flash back to Colleen’s blood soaked body in the dojo.

“They got hurt because of me, Mr. Stark. Colleen, she can’t have survived that wound. And then Mr. Castle… he’s been taken by Russo too. I… I don’t know what to do.” Peter didn’t want to breakdown, even if it was just to himself. But the tears and frustration that he’d been holding in since the beginning of Russo’s killing, it weighed on him.

“Russo, he said it was my fault. My fault he’s the way he is.”

“Kid, if all the good guys listened to the crap bad guys say as truth, then we’d all be doomed, no?” Reasoned Imaginary Tony. 

“Listen here, and listen hard,” said Imaginary Tony as the man crouched down to eye level with Peter, his eyes staring intensely at him. “You,” he pointed at Peter’s chest, “You are not responsible for the actions of some mad man. Do you understand?”

Peter swallowed hard and nodded. 

“Being a hero is hard kid, no one ever said it was easy. You chose this path when you left your comfy couch in Queens, now what are you going to do? Sit here, bleed out and die?" Imaginary Tony paused for beat before adding, "Or you planning to wait here for the real Tony Stark to appear, swoop in and save your ass?”

At Imaginary Tony’s last line, Peter snapped to attention.

“I don’t expect --,”

“Yes you do. You expect him to come swooping in to fix your messes.”

Peter swallowed. _My mess._  

“Remember the Stanton Ferry incident, Spider-boy?”

He nodded.

“Who came to your rescue?”

“Mr. Stark did. But I didn’t need – “

“Yes you did. You made a mess. And now this too.”

_I did do this. If I had been strong enough…_

“I’m sorry,” said Peter in a bare whisper.

“Don’t say sorry to _me_. You should say that to those people you failed. Those people you put in danger because you couldn’t stay put. All you had to do,” said imaginary Tony sweeping his arms up in a grand gesture, “was to _stay_ in Queens.”

The man stopped and stared darkly at Peter. “And what did you do?”

“I came here.”

“That’s right. You came here and broke your promise to Aunt May.”

 _This pep talk from his imaginary mentor,_ thought Peter,  _had taken a strikingly unexpected turn.  It was more like a kick 'em while they're down moment._

Despite the harsh words of the Imaginary Tony, Peter felt a renewed energy raise in him.  He remembered the true reason why he had come in the first place.  He remembered why he fled the dojo.  It wasn't because he was afraid, it was because he wanted to stop Russo.  How had he forgotten that?  

“I did break my promise to her,” agreed Peter. “But if I didn’t come, then those people at the hospital, they would have died!”

Imaginary Tony looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Yes, you did good. But was that enough to offset the bad that’s come since you arrived?”

“Yes,” said Peter without hesitation. “Those people, they needed me. That’s why I’m _here_ , to make sure that Russo doesn’t hurt anyone else.” His eyes were burning, but Peter felt a rush of adrenaline, and a mix of anger and frustration having to defend his decisions… to himself. 

Imaginary Tony nodded, still with slight dubious look on his face. 

“So now what? I’m asking this again, are you going to just keep lying here on some abandoned rooftop?”

“Not a bad idea...” said Peter and then added, “kidding.”

“Still cheeky, eh kid?”

“I am only talking to myself afterall,” said Peter evenly.

Imaginary Tony nodded, “That’s very true. You probably also know that even if Tony Stark does get pissed off at you, he’d be more pissed if you didn’t call him now, all things considering you are beyond injured right now.” 

Peter had to agree with that. Imaginary Mr. Stark was right, he did need help. Calling backup wasn’t a shame, it was something smart heroes did when they assessed the situation and the only way to win was to team up.

_Like the team you abandoned just a few minutes ago?_

No. That was different. They were just unfortunate people to have gotten caught up in Peter’s mess. With somewhat renewed purpose, Peter moved to get up, but ended up feeling a jarring pain in his side.  

“God, this really hurts,” muttered Peter under his breath to no one in particular.

“I would think getting shot would be,” replied imaginary Tony.  "Not to mention being impaled by a pipe..."

 _Thanks for the reminder_ , thought Peter as he took note of the injuries again.

“I put some webbing on them already…”

“You know your webbing doesn’t exactly contain any pain killers, right?” After a beat, the figment added, “You should put more to stop the blood flow if you can.  You may have super healing abilities, but try and help it out a little in this case.  You're putting it into overdrive.”

“Okay,” and Peter as he started to use more web fluid again to bind up the wound.

“Good talk, kid.”

Even though it wasn’t really Tony Stark talking to him, even an imaginary version of him made Peter feel more steady and to some extent, calmer.

Just as he thought that, when he looked up again, the Tony Stark figment of his mind had disappeared.

But while Peter was alone again, he realized he wasn’t as tired or as scared. The ‘talk’ he had with his imaginary mentor, it seemed to put things into perspective for him. He had to fix this, he couldn’t just lay here and feel sorry for himself. Peter had come to Hell’s Kitchen for a reason – to keep Russo from hurting more people. Now he just had to focus on that goal, figure out a better strategy to take the man down.

But what was Russo’s weakness? Russo had some the same powers as Peter, but the man also had some unconventional ones too, given the solidfying web fluid and the freaky mind controlling of spiders. No. Russo had an origin story, just as Peter himself had. While Peter was bitten by a radioactive spider, Russo was transformed by ingesting a fish oil contaminated with the Terrigen Mist. This idea had been spinning around in Peter's head ever since the rooftop incident with Russo.  When the man had impaled Peter with a pipe, he had also been venting out his origin story - a nurse had given him fish oils to help him with his memory.  That in turn, had transformed him.  Russo claimed that the nurse was obsessed with Spider-Man's heroics and had left something on for him to watch.  Whatever the video that he had been exposed to, Russo must have mimicked it during his transformation. 

This of course logically led to that whatever fan made video that Russo had seen, there may even be a small chance the fan had thrown some weakness in there too. The person had been creative enough to suggest that Spider-Man could control an army of spiders, what kind of kryptonite would he give to his favorite idol?

_Okay Parker. You know he might have a weakness, so how do you find it? You know that Russo said that he killed the nurse. So you need to track down who this nurse is, find out what she had shown him. If it's a fan made thing, it must have been a laptop or something. Maybe… it might still be in her house?_

It was a long shot, but Peter had to try a different tactic, no matter how slim of a chance it may seem. Problem was, as he looked at his cellphone, it was in no way operable, having been partially melted. God, May was going to kill him. This and all the backpacks he’d been losing, he was seriously not looking to having that conversation with her.

But all was not lost, he still had someone that he could always count on – his guy in the chair.

Now… to get to a payphone. He remembered coming across one before landing on the current building. Scanning around him, Peter finally saw what he was looking for.

 _Alright, time to get moving before I can’t_ , thought Peter. Trying to be as stealth as possible, he did a crawl down from the building instead of his usual swing. It was a very slow one since Peter was trying to reserve his energy for getting himself to where the nurse lived. God he hoped she lived close to where he was right now.

Once he was in the pay phone booth, Peter pulled out from one of his secret compartment his emergency funds. He’d thought of this idea after his fight with Toomes. If he had some extra funds on him it would have been easier for him to get back home. The bills were all burnt through, but the coins were still usable. Inserting a quarter, he began punching in Ned’s number, all the while noting the bloody prints he was leaving on the dial. The phone barely finished its first ring before the curious sound of Ned’s voice came on the line.

“Hello?”

Well, thought Peter, he was calling from a pay phone, so Ned probably had no idea that it was him.

“Hey Ned.”

“Peter?!” Ned’s voice instantly came to life.

“Ned, I need your help.”

 

\---

**I know!  Not quite the Tony Stark everyone was expecting, but know that even an Imaginary Tony brings some comfort to Peter.  The question really is, where _is_ the real Tony?  Thanks everyone for the Kudos and reviews!  Please keep on leaving them because they really brighten my day :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Foggy Nelson**

Things had been on the up and up for Foggy since he began working for Hogarth’s law firm.  Not only had income become a steady thing, but he didn’t have to deal with crazy people trying to kill him.  That and not having to worry about a certain someone getting himself killed every other night Out of sight, out of mind, as the old saying went.

All of which was a damn lie.  

Matt was his best friend.  Just because they didn’t work together anymore, it didn’t mean Foggy didn’t worry about him.  Yes, he never condoned his vigilante ways, but he loved the guy. They’d always had each others back.  And Foggy _tried_ to watch Matt’s back.  He did everything he could in hopes his friend would come to his senses, that he wasn’t some guy with super powers - like Captain America or the Thor guy.  God, Matt couldn’t even see - at least in the conventional way anyway. When he got punched, he _got_ punched.  Foggy had seen enough bruises and stitches on the man to last him a few lifetimes.  How many times he’d call Claire to fix Matt up?

Well, now there wasn’t a need for that anymore.  No more calls to Claire in the middle of the god damn night, because Matt was gone.  Six feet under. He’d died saving them all from the Hand, and against Electra... who was ironically his ex.

After Matt’s funeral of an empty casket because they couldn’t even find his body under the levelled building, he and Karen had made a pact to not let grief consume them and to stay in touch.  This had been one of those Friday’s where the two of them would meet at the bar where Matt and them used to meet after a long days work.

They were in the midst of light hearted chit-chat when the Spider-Man literally waltzed in the front door of the bar and started to fire off some sort of acidic webbing.  

If it was halloween or something, no one would have batted an eye.  If the guy was drunk, that would have been fine too. But this wasn’t either.  They’d all heard the news about the Spider-Man having gone crazy, but it had all been pure speculation.

Foggy had heard about this guy, and for all terms and purposes, there was zero evidence supporting that the killer _was_ Spider-Man.  From previous news footages, this man was notably one of the good guys.  He was stopping potential accidents, taking down criminals... Foggy didn’t believe what he was hearing in the news at all.  

Until now.  

Gone were the bar noises of laughter and cheers of those watching the game by the bar counter.  Instead, in its place were screams and cries of pain. Some of the men who were quick to react, pulled out their firearms to shoot at the Spider-Man, but unsurprisingly, they hit nothing but air.

The Spider-Man dodged them easily and at one point grabbed a server and used her as a shield.  Picking up random objects, he flung them at those who were attacking him. The strength and also the expert aim was chilling.  Behind the bar counter where both he and Karen hid, Foggy saw something as innocuous as a coaster, decapitate someone.

Foggy’s stomach lurched, and it took all his will power then to keep it together.  His knuckles white and with a death grip on his cell, Foggy started to dial for the cops.  He froze when he heard a name that Spider-Man lulled out from his nonexistent lips.

Never had a full on mask been creepier.

“Would Karen Page please step out?  Cause you know, I can stop this. I’ll let ‘em have a fighting chance if you come out Miss. Page.”

Foggy only had to glance at Karen’s face to know what she was thinking about.  It was _that look_.  God, no. No playing hero.  Matt had done that, he’d saved people and the cost was his life.  Foggy seriously couldn’t take another hit like that, not so soon.

“No, Karen, please, don’t,” he whispered more harshly than he wanted to.  Karen shook her head, and said, “I have to. I’m sorry Foggy.”

_Damn it._

Karen abruptly stood up then and Foggy on impulse to stop her, stood as well.

_Ah shit,_ were the words that popped into his mind when Spider-Man took notice of them.

“Hey, don’t you dare touch her!” He had said, raising his right arm protectively in front of Karen, keep her behind him.

Chivalry may not have been dead, but the way the Spider-Man inclined his head and moved towards him, it gave the sickening impression to Foggy that the man found him amusing.

As nervous as Karen was, she was fearless when she gently pushed Foggy’s arm down, and took his place in a protective stance.

“You leave him alone, or I’ll be difficult.  I don’t know what you want with me, but I won’t be trouble if you just leave him and everyone here alone.”

The man nodded slowly, “Okay, I guess I could do that.”

The Spider-Man’s voice sounded gruff and a whole lot deeper than Foggy expected.  From the past footage, the man always had a higher pitched voice. A younger voice.

“Karen, don’t,” he warned his friend, but she shook her head said, “I’ll be fine Foggy.”

“Foggy?” The Spider-Man said the name aloud and laughed.  “What kind of stupid name is that?”

“It’s short for Franklin, not that it matters to you,” he snapped back on reflex.

_God, what am I doing? I’m agitating a super powered crazy man!_

The Spider-Man though just laughed.  “You got some guts, chubby man.”

Foggy’s face burned at the man’s insult on his weight, but he bit back his retort.

The man took a firm grip on Karen’s arm and moved to leave the bar.  All Foggy could do was tighten his fists in frustration. He couldn’t just let the guy leave like that!  The right thing to do was just go after the Spider-Man, get him when he wasn’t paying attention, like now when his back was turned.  It seemed, however, two other guys in the bar had that exact same idea. They drew their weapons, but before they could even fire them, the Spider-Man turned his head and shot them point blank in the face with his web fluid. The shots went wild as the two men clawed at the webbing on their faces.  

The Spider-Man shook his head.

“Here I was, trying to be honorable, keeping my word,” the man spoke as if what he had just done was _reasonable_.

_No, you’re f-ing crazy_ , thought Foggy.  So crazy, there were no words to describe.  But the masked man was going to show the price for pissing him off.

“Look, please, stop.  Just let them go. I’ll come with you,” said Karen desperately, not even trying to run out of the bar.  

Sacrificing herself.

Jesus, maybe all their talking they _should_ have talked about not channelling their inner Matt, thought Foggy the sick feeling in his stomach increasing..

_Yeah, don’t you judge her buddy, you were just thinking of rushing the crazy masked guy a second ago._

“Oh I listened to you, pretty girl.  But f*ck, these guys, they’re not playing nice.  See that guy over there,” the man pointed to a young blond man partially hidden in the back corner of the bar under two overturned tables.  “That guy just called the cops on me. Along with what, those guys over there? Tsk tsk. I was going to let you guys live cause Castle’s girl here asked me real nice.”

_Wait, Castle?  Frank Castle… this had something to do with him?_

“But, looks like I’m gonna had have to do a bit of housekeeping before heading out.  Why don’t you sit tight, Miss Page.” As he said that, the man fired his web fluid on her, literally fixing her between the counter and a stool.  But unlike the agony that the others experienced when they had contact with the webbing, it didn’t hurt Karen at all. But it did solidify on her.

_So the Spider-Man could control this power of his, to whether the web was acidic or not,_ thought Foggy partially curious about it.

The Spider-Man didn’t forget about Foggy it seemed, and he too was fixed to the stool next to Karen a second later.

Picking up two a pool cues, the Spider-Man strolled across the room and In the next few minutes, he used the two cues to literally slay every living person in the bar - save for Foggy and Karen.  It was a bloodbath - where the floor of the bar ran slick with blood.  

Foggy couldn’t hold it in anymore and he gagged out his breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once.

In between his heaving, Foggy did feel a bit of relief as he heard the distant sirens coming closer to bar.

Yes.  There was hope.  The Spider-Man had spent so much time killing that it slipped his mind on the phone calls for help.  Now if he could keep the guy occupied until the NYPD showed up, there would be hope of a rescue.

Foggy opened his mouth for his first phase in distracting the bad guy - like there was a manual for that of course.  Yet before he could even voice the words, Karen’s gaze caught his eye.

Her eyes said it all:  There was no point - doing anything would only get him killed.  Foggy seriously wanted to argue with her, because there was no way in hell he was going to let Spider-Man take her without a fight.  Even if it meant to be literally over his dead body.

“No,” she said aloud in a hushed whisper.  There were tears in her eyes, even Foggy himself had them, but they remained unshed.  Damn it, If Matt were here, he’d would have made a move already! Thought Foggy angrily to himself.  What the hell was he doing, just thinking. He had to do it. He was going to. He -.

“No, Foggy.  Please. Not you.  I can’t lose you too.  Not like this.”

Foggy looked to where Karen was staring at.  Spider-Man still strolling around the bar, using the tip of a pool cue to pike through anyone that gave semblance of life or just because he could.

Sadistic son of a b*tch, cursed Foggy inwardly.

As if sensing their dual gazes, the man turned and started back towards them.

“You did good Miss Page in stopping your buddy here from playing heroics.  Otherwise he’d have been a part of the pile. Now, though, it’s time for us to go along our merry way.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Oh, somewhere nice.  Kinda scenic. It’s got a nice view if I recall.  Can’t believe a nurse could afford that with her salary.  Maybe she got busy with the execs?”

Spider-Man strolled over to Karen and ripped off the webbing.  Taking her arm, and not exactly gently, he guided her towards the door.

Foggy struggled against his web bindings, but it was pointless.  He wasn’t going anywhere.

“See you later, Foggy.  Enjoy the game. Think the Yankees were winning.”

Foggy swallowed the angry responses he had prepared in his mind at the man.   

Spider-Man did a backwards wave at him as he left through the front door of the bar with Karen.

Just like that.

Damn this.  

Foggy Nelson was not going to just _sit_ here while his friend was in danger.   _God damn it_ , he cursed inwardly as he struggled desperately against the webbing that binded him.

Minutes went by, and for Foggy things were ever so hopeless.  He was losing time. Every second the Spider-Man had Karen, the chances in finding her were growing slimmer.

All Foggy had as a lead was that it had to do with Frank Castle.  God. Did that guy just never stop being in the headlines? How many times had he roped Karen into the crazy shit of his?

Suddenly the front door of the bar swung open, interrupting Foggy’s thoughts.  For a moment he thought maybe that the Spider-Man had returned. For better or for worse, he’d rather that the man be back here with Karen than elsewhere doing who knows what.

But at one glance, Foggy knew it wasn’t him.  It was just a regular guy, drunk off his ass.

_Wish I was like that right now._ Being lucid seriously sucked right now.

“Oh hey, Bobby, sorry mate, I forgot my wallet.  Think you can spot me a cab –“, started the man but his voice froze  when he saw the state of the bar and the people within it.

“Holy shit,” he said as he stumbled backwards.

“Hey, hey buddy, can you help me?  Help get out of this?” said Foggy quickly, seriously worried the man would just either pass out or bolt out the door.

The man looked at Foggy, his face ashen white.

“Yeah, yeah.  F*ck, what the hell?!”

“Yeah, agreed.  Spider-Man happened,” said Foggy trying to keep his voice leveled. “Now, can you help get me out of this and call the cops, will you?”

The man nodded and reached for his phone.

***

It was nearly an hour that Foggy spent at the precinct, giving his statement, going over and over to pretty much anyone who would listen - that Spider-Man had taken Karen and Frank Castle was connected to all of this.

One of the detectives, Grahams, had acknowledged that this could be a lead.  And that was it. The station was on high alert, especially with multiple reports of officers down in several districts.  Something about exploding spiders. Yet really, none of this mattered as much as having someone check out the only lead Foggy had.  Each minute that passed, it was time that Karen didn’t have. Seeing the level of violence the Spider-Man unleashed, Foggy didn’t want to imagine what the man was doing to Karen.  

Grahams had been empathic with Foggy’s desire to use this as a clue to the whereabouts of Karen.  But the fact was Frank Castle seriously had too many enemies to count. The guy single handedly killed off some of the most dangerous street gangs in Hell’s Kitchen.

So they had left Foggy sitting there since he didn’t want to leave.  He was better to be here than anywhere else.

His waiting paid off when he caught sight of three very familiar faces being brought in by several officers.  Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Claire Temple... in handcuffs. Detective Grahams and Pagent were both rough with them, angry, shoving them along.  God, they all looked beat. There were bruises on Jessica’s face, but nothing compared to the blood stained clothing of both Luke and Claire.

_Jesus, what happened to you guys?_

As if Claire and he were psychically linked, that moment the thought crossed Foggy’s mind, Claire eyes met his.  They locked gazes for a moment and Foggy knew what he had to do. 

The two detectives, he was pretty sure was going to be pissed at him.  But Foggy honestly didn’t care. He knew it was going to be these guys, not the cops, that would be able to help him save Karen.

He made his way towards them, and then in a clear voice said to the detectives, “I would like to represent these guys.”

**Peter Parker/Spider-Man**

“Oh my God, Peter!  I’ve been trying to reach you all night! Are you okay? May’s really upset right now, she’s actually _here_.  I hope you’re not mad, but I kinda called Happy too, but haven’t gotten an answer yet. I haven’t stopped calling though.  Where are you? Are you on your way back to Queens yet? Wait, what, my help?”

The questions Ned had, all came out in one long sentence.  One thing was certain: May was there, and she was really mad at him, and rightly so.  He had promised her he wouldn’t put himself in harms way. The surprise was that Happy hadn’t answered – all night.  While Happy wasn’t an easy person to reach, it wasn’t like him not to even check in on him if he or Ned ever called. Something serious must have happened to Mr. Stark and Happy, Peter could feel it in his gut.  But right now, he couldn’t really do anything, he could barely handle this Russo fiasco. But Peter made a mental note that he would check in the Stark compound the minute he was able to.

Trying to keep his voice as steady as possible, Peter began to answer Ned’s questions.

“I’m… okay, and also still in Hell’s Kitchen.  The fake Spider-Man, his name is Russo, and he’s amped up on something that’s making him stronger and stronger.  I … I can’t leave yet, Ned. If I do, I think he might kill Frank Castle.”

“What... wait, _the_ Frank Castle, as in the Punisher?”

“Yeah… it’s a long story Ned.  I’ll tell you more about it later?”

“Um, okay.  Wait, uh, I think May is coming in.  She’s not happy. What should I say?”  Ned sounded worried.

It must have been bad.

“Tell her…,” Peter swallowed, hating himself to do this, “tell her it's a spam call.”

“What? Peter you can’t do that --,”

“No, please Ned, I can’t… I can’t talk to her right now.”  Peter knew that the minute he heard May’s voice, whatever resolution of taking down Russo would go away in a puff of smoke.  If May didn’t know, then…that would be better. Peter could handle the aftermath of May Parker, but not the present distressed version.

“Okay, okay. She’s coming in,” said Ned reluctantly.  Peter could feel the distress his friend was under.

_Sorry Ned to put this on you.  But if she comes on the phone… I can’t not come home._

Peter held his breath as he stayed on the line to hear Ned lie to the person that mattered the most to him.

“Ned? Is that, is that Peter?”

_God, she sounded terrible, it was a cross between being really upset and worried out of her mind._

“Uh, hey May.  Sorry, um, it’s not Peter.  Just spam,” and Peter could almost hear Ned’s flipping the phone to show her the random number.

“Oh.  Okay.”

May sounded so disappointed and distressed in just two words, it broke Peter’s heart.

_Parker, you’re the worse nephew in the world.  You don’t deserve her._

Peter made a mental note to make this up to May.  Somehow. Any way possible.

_That’s IF you make it back tonight.  And another big if was if May would ever forgive Peter.  Or if Peter could forgive himself for causing her so much worry._

“You should get some rest, Ned.”

“Yeah, for sure May.  You should too. Good night.”

Once the retreating sound of May’s footsteps disappeared, Ned came back on the line.

“Okay, she’s gone,” he said, sounding slightly out of breath despite not having moved from the room - at least from Peter could tell.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Can you help me get the address of a nurse that may have mysteriously disappeared in the past month in Hell’s Kitchen?”

“Uh, Peter that’s a really wide range … can you be more specific?”

_Specific.  Think Peter.  Think!_

Peter remembered reading from some classified files when he was at the Guardian Initiatives workshop that people who didn’t ‘transform’ via the terrigen mist, they just turn to some sort of metallic dust.

“Ned, were there reports of anyone mentioning finding metallic fiber-like dust on the ground of the missing person’s report?”

“Okay, that’s definitely a lot more specific than I expected.  Give me a sec,” said Ned as he began to type.

As Peter listened to his friend type on the laptop, he could feel himself start to almost doze off.  The adrenaline spike he had earlier from the imaginary pep talk from Mr. Stark was wearing off. His body was starting to really feel his injuries too.  The bloodloss definitely was making him super light-headed and weary.

Peter needed to stave it off until he took down Russo.  He had to.

“Okay, got it.  There’s a few.”

“How about ones who are nurses?”

A few more taps on the keyboard, and Ned announced, “Yess, I’ve got one hit.  This has to be it, Peter,” said Ned sounding excited.

_Thank God it’s only one hit_ , thought Peter.  He really couldn’t imagine himself swinging around the city looking at various apartments for a laptop that may or may not be there.

“Says here a Nora Gibson reported her roommate Deborah Lewis missing about 4 weeks ago.  No traces of her, just a mess in the living room, some metallic stuff.”

_That had to be it._

“Where’s the place?”

_Please please let it be close by!_

“The place is 160 Leroy Street, 15th floor.  Wow. Penthouse suite,” said Ned sounding slightly astounded.  “On a nurse’s salary, she’s doing pretty well. Wonder why she left town?”

“Russo, the fake Spider-Man, killed her Ned.  He tried to change her into an In-Human, but it didn’t work… that’s why there was metallic dust.”

“Oh.”

Peter hadn’t meant to sound so blunt on it, but he felt he needed to tell Ned exactly how dangerous this guy was.

And maybe it was a cry for help on a subconscious level, because the next words that came out from Ned’s mouth was, “I’m still calling Happy and Mr. Stark, Peter.  This guy sounds really sick... maybe you shouldn’t try to take him on your own.”

Ned paused a beat before adding, “You sure you can’t just … come back to Queens?”

“Russo’s on a killing streak, Ned.  He’s also got Frank Castle… if I don’t go, the cops will for sure, but how many… how many would die?”

Peter could almost feel Ned’s nod from where he was.

“Yeah, I get it.  But... yeah. I’m just worried for you, you know? But I know you’ve got this.”

That’s what best friends were like.  Peter never felt so lucky to have someone watching his back.  Ned, his guy in the chair.

“Thanks Ned.  Thanks… for everything.”

_God, did that just sound so final?_

Ned didn’t miss his tone, “Peter, you okay?”  His voice filled with worry and concern, it made Peter doubt himself a bit.

_Am I okay?  I’ve been singed by a fire, impaled by a pipe, and shot in the side.  Probably lost more than the average amount of blood any one is suppose to… am I really okay?_

The answer was no.  He wasn’t okay. But he had to _be_ okay.  And besides, he wasn’t your average person.  He was _Spider-Man_.  He had abilities and one of them was a healing factor that Peter was positive was working overtime.

“I’m okay, Ned.  I am really. Thanks.”

“Okay,” said Ned, though he didn’t sound convinced.

“You call me if you need anything.  On that, why aren’t you using your cell?”

“Uh… it sort of melted.”

“Melted?!”

“Yeah. Sorry, it’s a long story, uh, I’ve got to go,” said Peter.  Better to end it before he freaked Ned out. He’d have to tell him more about the summoning of spiders another time.

“Okay, good luck.  And be careful!”

“Yeah, I will.”

Once Peter hung up the phone it took a bit of energy to get himself out of the phone booth.  He needed to get to Leroy street. He knew that area, quite the upper end in terms of condominiums.   In his condition and where he was now presently, it would take a bit of time to get to, but at least the location wasn’t at the other side of town.  Peter now only hoped that this lead would result in finding a way to stop Russo once and for all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Aw, thanks everyone for the lovely reviews and kudos!  Got back from vacation recently so doing some catch up writing.  Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!**

**Karen Page**

Karen felt sick to her stomach.  Once they had left Josie’s bar, the Spider-Man had moved to higher ground, and Karen experienced Hell’s kitchen from a bird’s eye view.  She had to use all of her strength to keep from puking her stomach contents out. It was jolting, like riding a rollercoaster, except she wasn’t seated and she couldn’t get off.  The Spider-Man had tossed her over his shoulders, her head drooped down, swaying with the man’s rapid movements. 

Karen was so glad when the man finally stopped moving and they had entered what looked like an apartment.  This must have been the so-called nurse’s place that he was talking about. Why he took her here, she didn’t know, but she was going to get out the minute she got the chance.

“See, told you, this lady, affords  _ this _ apartment.  Damn f*cking penthouse suite,” said the Spider-Man as they entered through the balcony door.

Karen said nothing.  All throughout the journey, the man had chatted casually with her, like they were having coffee at a cafe.  The thing was, Karen was too busy freaking out to really pay attention... until now. The man, his voice... it was familiar to her.

The Spider-Man, continued to talk, but his hands were not idle at all.  He set her down roughly on one of the many couches in the living room and then pinned her down with his webbing.  It was the same as what he had done in Josie’s Bar with her and Foggy, except this time it encompassed her entire torso and lower body.  

The man then stretched his arms upwards and let out a yawn before slumping into a long couch opposite to her.  

“Jesus, what a night,” he continued conversing as if they were old buddies, “Most fun I’ve had in a long time.  Even if it is under this stupid mask. Kid has such f*cking awesome powers and he uses it to save kittens on trees.  The hell the world is going to. You know, what I would do at his age? So much more…”

Karen continued to say nothing, and focused instead on the man’s voice.  The familiarity of it was gnawing at her. She  _ knew  _ this voice. Without the screaming in the background, or the overwhelming fear that had taken over her earlier at the bar, she was now able to process that she, in fact, knew this person. 

Yes. 

She did.

Her eyes widened in realization. 

No f-ing way.

Russo?

But that was impossible.  The man was in a coma, at least that’s what Frank had told her.  This of course made perfect sense why the Spider-Man from Queens suddenly turned into a psychopath - it was because a mad man had assumed his identity.  The real question, however, was  _ how _ this had happened.  How did Russo get Spider-Man’s powers?  What exactly was his plan? If Russo was behind the recent arsons, why in hells was he doing it?  Karen’s mind was reeling with questions and now that she knew  _ who _ was behind the mask, the fear she felt earlier disappeared.

Russo wasn’t a mystery to her.  He was just an amoral man out for revenge.  This she could understand. Yet at the same time, it also made the whole incident at Josie’s really messed up; he’d known the whole time who she was.  Why the pretense? Maybe he didn't want to leave a link behind to anyone that it was actually him, the escapee Billy Russo, that was framing the real Spider-Man.  Like two birds with one stone. Everyone was chasing the good guy while Russo just took his time causing ruckus throughout Hell’s Kitchen for fun.

Karen hoped that the real Spider-Man could take Russo out.  Though hopes of rescue for her was slim since who would be able to find her on some random condo in the middle of Hell’s Kitchen? No, she had to figure a way to get away on her own.

“What do you want, Russo,” she said, not afraid of showing she knew his identity.

The man perked up at the name and then he let out laugh. 

“Wow, took you long enough to figure it out it was me.  Guess the muffling of the voice in this mask did a number?”

“Yes, and the fact that you were slaughtering dozens of innocent people in the bar.  It was kind of distracting.”

“I guess so,” he said almost in a thoughtful admission. “As in what I want, Karen, it’s to have your boyfriend, Castle watch as I slowly mangle your face like he did mine.

_ Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have asked _ .

“I’m going to fetch him now, actually.  He’s not to far away,” said Russo tilting his head slightly to the side as if listening to something.

A communicator?  A tracker maybe? Inside his  _ head _ ?  Seriously that would stretch the imagination a little, yet seeing that Russo had super powers now, nothing really could surprise Karen any more.  Was it too hard to imagine he suddenly had a tracker embedded in his head? Was he half cyborg or something? 

“How... how have you been tracking us?”

“I’ll bet you wouldn’t have guessed it, but my trackers are quite unconventional” he said as he opened his palm and there was a spider sitting in it.

God.  Did he just hatch that? Was the first thought that crossed Karen’s mind.  Then the thought of having spiders in her  _ purse _ .  She’d rummaged through that daily, looking for her keys, wallet, everything.  How long? And how did they get in there? Thinking about it sent a shiver down her spine.  What the hell kind of powers did Russo have? Did the other Spider-Man have this too?

“You … can talk to spiders?”

“Well, not all spiders, only the ones that are mine...our minds are linked somehow.”

Karen tried to control the disgusted look from showing on her face as she realized what he was implying...that he really  _ did _ hatch the spiders.  She failed obviously when Russo let out another laugh.

“Am I grossing you out?”

Karen shook her head.  Yet her mind screamed, yes, yes, you are!

“You know, I’d love to go into how I do it, but I have to pickup Castle now.  Be back in a bit. Don’t miss me too much,” he said before shot webbing point blank on her face. 

As the stick fluid hit her lips, she couldn’t help but flinch as she realized it was coming from Russo’s wrist.  The guy was producing webbing himself. The substance on her face, unlike the sold webbing that encased the rest of her, was hot and sticky.  

The former soldier did a mock salut at her before he strutted away and disappeared out the balcony of the apartment.  

Karen barely waited a second after Russo left before she attempted to get out of the bindings.  She knew it was futile, but she was going to try anyway. It was better than waiting for the man to come back with Castle and follow through with his plan.

The apartment so silent that she could hear the ticking of the grandfather clock located across the room.  It sounded like drums to her ears as she strained hard against the solid webbing. But it wasn’t any use, only that it was rubbing raw against her wrists.  Even if she got her hands out, her legs were also locked into to the couch. 

This f-ing sucked.

It felt like hours that she’d been trying to get out, and even without glancing at the clock, she knew a good period of time had past.  Russo could be coming back at any second with Frank. And then… and then he was going to get his revenge. 

_ Come on, Karen! You are not going to be someone’s damsel in distress.  That role for you has gotten old.  _

She had to get out of this.  At least she had to try. Karen could feel a sticky wetness on her hands, and she knew it wasn’t sweat.  She’d rubbed raw her hands in trying to get out. Well, it was a small price to pay in what was to come.

“Meow.”

_ What the hell? _

Karen blinked away the sweat from her eyes and peered down...to see a fluffy white Persian cat staring back at her.

“Meow.”

Geez.  The cat was hungry.

Wait.  If there was a cat... then there must have been someone taking care of it.  But what the hell were the chances of the person coming in the middle of the Goddamn night?

The answer came to Karen in the form of rattling keys.  

Wow, the universe was seriously listening to her!

Karen’s heart thumped in anticipation as the door clicked and opened.

“Marmalade!  I’m here. Sorry, it’s been such a long night.  This… why is the alarm off?” said the voice as the lights clicked on.

Instantly their eyes met and there was fear in them.  Karen didn't’ blame here in the least. Especially given the fact the woman had a nasty shiner on her temple.  That and she was at least 6 months pregnant.

No.  The woman had to get out of there.

“Oh God, not again!”

_ Okay… not what I was expecting. _

“The bastard’s done enough to me today, and now he’s invading my home too?  Lord help me that someone has got to put an end to this.”

Karen struggled to say something, anything, but the woman shut the door quickly behind her and the lights too.

_ Smart.  Clearly she knew something was up _ , thought Karen.

“Alright, I’m going to get you out, alright?” She said in a hushed whisper. “He’s not here, right?”

Karen didn’t even get a chance to shake her head, because the woman answered herself. “Of course he wouldn't be.  If he were, I’d be dead. Just like so many of my colleagues. He’s a sick man, that other Spider-Man. A real sick one.  I’m Nora by the way. Don't worry, I’ll get you out, but I’m going to need help.”

Even as she spoke, Karen saw the woman’s hands weren’t idle. Already she was dialing a number on her cellphone.

_ Yes. Yes. Yes! _

The room was so silent as the woman waited for someone to pickup.  When it was finally answered, the voice on the phone seemed to echo.

“911, how can I help you?”

“The Spider-Man… he’s been in my home, and he’s holding a hostage here.”

“Yes, of course ma’am.”

Damn, did that operator sound bored?  Thought Karen. Maybe there were dozens of these reports going on, and only half of them were real.

“Please, send someone here, there is a young woman here that has Spider-Man’s webbing on her and I’m not sure I can get it off her.  I’m at 160 Leroy Street, 12th floor, penthouse suite. Please, send hel—“, but she choked off in mid-sentence and let out an alarmed cry instead.  Following Nora’s eyes, Karen saw what had shaken her. 

Oh, that was why. 

In the moonlight, there stood the Spider-Man crouched on the balcony, staring right back at them.

_ Ah Crap. _

They were so close!

**Peter Parker / Spider-Man**

Getting to the Deborah Lewis’s condo wasn’t as easy as he had thought.  While his body was doing its best to repair the injuries he’d had sustained, there was no way it could replenish blood that had been lost.  One good thing was the side wound felt like it had stopped bleeding, and in its place was just a dull throbbing pain. His back and shoulder still hurt a lot, especially when he had to swing from the buildings.  Peter had tried his best to reduce the amount of movement that aggravated the injury, but time was of an essence, so he had to toggle between crawling and swinging.

A stupid detail that occurred to Peter only too late after almost halfway to the condo, was that he didn’t know the suite number of the apartment.  What use was it to know just the floor? Peter figured he’d just have to ‘borrow’ a phone from one of the penthouse suites and call Ned again.

At last, he saw the condo in his sight, and he couldn’t have been any more grateful.  He was  _ so _ tired.  And using the term tired was an understatement.  His face felt hot and he was incredibly thirsty. Maybe he could get a drink while he was at the nurse’s home.  Just a sip would suffice.

Peter slowly climbed his way up to the 12 th floor from the outside.

As he did so, he reviewed his strategy:  Find the laptop, call Ned to hack it, use info to defeat Russo. 

God, that sounded so easy in his head.  But actually implementing it was a different story.  He was feeling sluggish again and Peter couldn’t help but suspect that it had to do with his side wound.  While it didn’t hurt as much as before, the possibility of infection didn’t escape him.

Finally as he reached the 12 th floor, he saw why his best friend had omitted mentioning the apartment number… it was because there was only one.  Tall large windows stretched all the way across the whole level indicating it was just one unit. There must have been at least over 20 rooms in there or something to that amount.  Now finding that laptop felt like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly made his way across to the balcony where the door had been left ajar.

_ Alright Parker, you’ve got this. _

Arriving at the balcony, he pulled himself up to the sill and found himself staring into the eyes of two figures inside the apartment.

_ Okay…. This can’t be good,  _ as he noted they were staring directly at him.

Peter just hoped they didn’t rush out to get the authorities before he could explain himself.  But given how many people Russo had hurt already, he didn’t blame them if they did.

The surprising thing though, was one them started to come his way. 

Okay… this could be good or bad.  But as the person drew closer, Peter’s eyes widened in recognition.

It was the nurse Gibson he had rescued in the fires at the hospital.   Also it clicked to Peter that this was the roommate mentioned in the article Ned found.

Fear gripped Peter that maybe the nurse wouldn’t be able to tell him or Russo apart.  His worry was misplaced because as the door slid open, and he saw kind eyes look onto him, and Peter was assured that the nurse knew it was him.

“Hey, Nurse Gibson.”

“Spider-Man,” she said, her voice was laced with concern as she looked him over.  Peter guessed his blood soaked bandages weren’t exactly giving vibes he was doing all that great.  

“Come inside, quickly.”

Peter nodded and hopped down from the balcony ledge.

“Thanks,” he said as he entered the apartment.

Just as he imagined, the place was spacious as he expected on the inside. The living room had high ceilings, and paintings lined expansively across the walls.  Where the paintings ended, there were the panoramic windows that gave a perfect skyline view of the Hudson River that the apartment overlooked. It was like a place Mr. Stark would own, and that said a lot about the place.

Peter would have continued to stare in awe at his surroundings, but the moment his eyes cast onto a blonde woman bound down to a couch by webbings, he went right into action.

“Can you get this off her?” Asked the nurse.

Peter nodded, already starting to tear off the solidified webbing off the woman, but careful in areas where it touched her skin.  He noted that there were attempts by the woman to get it out of the bounds, but it resulted only in rubbing her wrists raw against the web and causing it to bleed slightly.

The webbing on her mouth, Peter let the woman remove it herself seeing it was different in composition than her bindings.

Peter turned to the nurse and asked immediately,  “Deborah, your roommate, does she happen bring her laptop to work by any chance?”  He didn’t want to seem rude, not to introducing himself to the blonde woman he had just freed, but time was ticking.  He was also starting to feel lightheaded, all of which were not good signs and the sooner he found the solution, the sooner Russo could be taken down.  If not by him, then by someone else.

Peter’s heart thumped as he waited for her answer.  If the woman never did that, then it was moot to even find the laptop.

“Debbie does that sometimes, mostly for the bedridden ones at the hospital.  She has a soft spot for them.”

_ Yes! This was good. _

“Um, Miss Gibson, sorry, can you tell me where it is?  I think Russo was turned into an Inhuman by your roommate…and that a video on that laptop might be the only way to stop him.  My theory is that the man got his powers watching a fan video’s theory about my abilities, I’m hoping that maybe he or she made up a weird weakness too.”

Peter couldn’t but cringe inwardly on how silly his idea was until he said it aloud. 

“Russo, you know who he is?”  It was the blonde woman who spoke.

“You know who he is too?” said Peter, turning to her in surprise.

“Yes, I’ve had dealings with him in the past.  Billy Russo and Castle, they were in military together.  They have a sordid history and this whole thing, it has to do with him wanting revenge.”

“Yeah, and right now, Russo’s got him,” said Peter feeling a knot in his stomach as he shared the information.  

“Shit, this isn’t good.  That means he’s coming back here then.”

Peter couldn’t help but silently agree with her.  That and realizing the irony that he’d literally stumbled into Russo’s ‘evil lair’ while trying to find his so-called weakness.

“Then we have better get that laptop then,” said Nora to him with a smile.

Peter couldn’t help but feel a swell of relief that someone could trust him with no reservations.

“I’ll get it, I know where she usually stores it.”  She started to move towards one of the bedrooms, but then turned and faced the blonde woman and said, “Miss, can you grab the first aid kit from the bathroom cabinet?  I need that with me so I can take a look at Spider-Man’s injuries once we’re out of here.”

“I’m okay,” said Peter reflexively and received a silent but stern look from the nurse.

“On it,” replied the blonde woman as she moved towards the bathroom.  Just before she disappeared into the room, she called out, “I’m Karen by the way.  Karen Page.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Page,” replied Peter, who couldn’t help but remember he had named his suit’s A.I. Karen as well.  “I’m Spider-Man. Um, the real one.”

The two women moved quickly, Peter could hear them rummaging to retrieve the items.   No one lagged as they each knew the stakes. While the two had let the room, Peter had made his way to the kitchen, desperately wanting that glass of water.  Marmalade the cat shadowed Peter, purring as she rubbed against his leg.

_ Sorry kitty, I don’t know where the food is stored. _

Gently picking up the cat, he held her in one hand as he scanned the kitchen for a mug.  

He didn’t find a mug, but he did find a whole lot of ready to use inverted wine glasses sitting on the counter.

Picking one of them up, he turned on the kitchen tap and filled it to the top.  Peeling up his mask, he lifted the rim of the bottle to his lips and took a sip, careful not to spill.

It was like a little taste of heaven – water never tasted so good.

Peter would have continued to drink had his spidey senses didn’t suddenly go off on him.

Danger.

There was only one possible person that it could be – Billy Russo.

“He’s coming, hide!” He said quickly as he pulled his mask down again.  Even as he cried out the warning, Peter knew he was too late, at least for Karen’s sake because Russo promptly planted himself outside the balcony, with Frank Castle draped over his shoulders like a rag doll.  Marmalade sensed the danger and immediately hopped off from Peter’s arms and raced into hiding in one of the many rooms of the apartment. 

Smart cat.

Peter couldn’t help but feel sick seeing Castle hang limply in Russo’s hold.

_ Oh no...was he dead? _

“Geez, you again, kid?” said Russo as he tossed Frank to the floor of the apartment.  The former soldier didn’t even flinch when he hit the ground.  His body remained still-like. 

“Oh, you really shouldn’t be concerned about him, he’s fine.  Just a little sick from all the swinging – seems like he’s hurled just about everything he’s eaten.  Gross really if you think about it. Poor folks down below getting a chunk of half liquefied puke.”

Peter grimaced at the fine details that the man was supplying.  On the back of his mind, however, he was thinking on how to get them all out of there and away from Russo.  He felt so foolish in putting them at risk, having them stay even a minute longer there. If they ended up like Colleen… Peter didn’t know if he could forgive himself.  Subconsciously, Peter’s mind had been trying to put away the image of the Asian woman’s bloody form on the dojo’s floor. Her hitched breath as her friends tried to assure her everything was going to be okay.  If anything, it was Peter that should have been on that floor, for seeking asylum like that, putting those people that rescued him at risk.

_ They paid the price for your mistake. _

A flash of Uncle Ben’s face came, his prone form, sightless eyes, and it made Peter involuntarily shiver.

No.  He wasn’t going to let that happen again. 

Ever.

At the corner of his eye, he could sense movement and if Peter could sense it, that meant Russo did as well.

But if Peter could distract him enough, maybe…

No. Even as Peter thought it, he knew that Russo had sensed the Nurse’s presence. 

So he made the first move by firing off his webshooters before the man could move in the direction of the bedroom.

“Run!” He cried in warning to Karen and the nurse, as he used his reserved strength to swing Russo to the farside of the room.

The man was taken by surprise and he actually did fly, but the moment didn’t last long; he was back on his feet in an instant.  However fast the man got up, the two women were also quick and had managed to grab Castle, while also maintaining a tight grip on a thin laptop.  They bolted out of the front doorway of the apartment, and Peter could only guess, making a beeline to the stairs.

Russo wasn’t, however, so easy to be detracted from his plans.  He reversed roles with Peter by shooting his own set of webbing on Peter and yanked him forward before flinging him hard against the wall. 

Peter felt himself fly, roll through the upside down wine glasses on the counter before crashing into the far wall and knocking down a number of likely priceless paintings.  Knowing he couldn’t afford to waste a second or the two women and Russo would be as good as dead if Russo got to the hallway, Peter went for the man’s legs. 

Aiming for the ankles, he shot his webbings and managed to root Russo to the spot for a second, before he pulling hard enough to throw the man off balance.

It was a small victory for Peter, but he knew it bought time for the others to get away.

Yet seconds later, Russo was up again, and his body language spoke volumes on how pissed he was.

“You little twit,” swore Russo.  “I’m going to f*cking rip your head off.”

Peter usually had a lot to say, quips that he could say to his adversaries, but at the moment, he was barely able to keep standing.

The only thing keeping him going was adrenaline.  Russo, however, didn’t go for Peter. The man was smart, and he had figured out what Peter was trying to do.  Distract him so that he wouldn’t go after the others. But Russo’s goal was Castle, and he wasn’t going to lose focus. 

“I’ll come back for you, kid.  I believe me, you will wish you were dead.”

With that, the man lifted up the coffee table nearby and launched it at Peter before disappearing out the front door.

Peter saw the table fly towards him and thankfully managed to dodge it, though barely.  Even as he got to his feet, Peter felt an instant dizziness overwhelm him. What was worse was that in the scuffle, his side and shoulder wounds had both reopened.  Fresh blood trickled down from them and then onto on to the marbled floors.

Peter, unfortunately didn’t have the time to web up his wounds - Karen, the Nurse, and Castle were in immediate danger.  Peter raced out the doorway and saw that Castle was conscious now and had somehow managed to wedge a shard of glass into Russo’s thigh.

"Ha, finally made use of it," said Castle smirking proudly at the very enraged Inhuman.

Russo's movement was quick, and within a second, the man had his hand around Castle's throat,  tightening it so much that the veins around his neck strained blue.  Peter had no doubt that if Russo lost even a slight bit more control, Castle’s trachea would be crushed.

Karen rushed forward suddenly with a fire extinguisher in her hands.  “Let him go, you assh*le!” she demanded before unclipping it and letting out a sea of foam.

The distraction was enough to make Russo drop his hold on Castle, tossing him roughly against the side wall of the hallway.  There was a sound of crack, and Peter was pretty sure that it was the sound of Castle’s arm breaking.

Peter looked behind Karen, and saw the Nurse disappear through the staircase doorway, hugging the laptop tightly against her.  Karen’s quick thinking no doubt helped save the nurse and Castle at the same time.

But now, Peter knew the man was enraged, and his body language spoke volumes to the level of violence he was about to unleash.  And the worse thing was his attention was solely on Karen.

Peter knew he had to act now or there wouldn’t be anyone to save in the hallway.  And given that Russo was blinded by rage, that meant his spidey senses may have been compromised for a small window of time.  Shooting his webshooters low, he aimed for Russo’s mid-section and he yanked the man forward.

It worked, and the man lost his balance, stumbled and fell.  Then he turned his head and looked at Peter, and for once he was really glad that he wasn’t able to see the man’s expression under the mask… if there was even a face.

“You little shit,” Russo spat at him.  

Peter didn’t waste any time - using his webshooters, he shot webbing after webbing to hold the man down, knowing of course it was nothing but a sticky nuisance.  But that was what Peter was aiming for – distraction. He only needed a few seconds, enough for Karen to get past the man and to Castle. Ideally it would have been better if Castle went towards Karen, but the man was barely able to even get up.  That meant the quickest way to saftey was back to the apartment.

“Hurry,” he urged to Karen who was already by Castle’s side helping him up.

Just as the two re-entered the doorway to the condo, Russo had also broken through the webbing Peter used on him.  The man barreled towards them and suddenly unleashed something Peter would equate to a web bomb from the palm of his hand.  Except unlike Peter’s which exploded out a sticky web substance, Russo’s launched out small triangular silver shaped webbing that cut like knives.  Peter knew that because he barely dodged one, it grazing him in the arm as he grabbed a piece a broken furniture to shield Castle and Karen. 

_ What the hell was that? _

He wasn’t the only one surprised, though, because Russo, too, seemed in awe of his new found powers.

“Shit, I never knew I could do that.”

_ No… he’s got more hidden powers? _  This was so not fair, thought Peter.  Seeing that Russo was distracted, he decided to take advantage of it.  Tossing the makeshift shield aside, Peter webbed the most convenient large item in the room:  an old grandfather clock, and used it to slam Russo away from the entryway to the apartment. He honestly didn’t expect to hit the inhuman, given that the man had the same spidey sense as Peter.  But to his surprise, the clock  _ did _ hit Russo, and it hit hard.

Whatever that web bomb thing Russo had let loose, it might also have temporarily blinded this senses.  How long it would last, Peter wasn’t sure, but this was a damn good advantage for them. Now that the exit was open, he just needed to hold Russo down again until Castle and Karen got out.  Knowing that his webbing alone was not going to do anything to Russo, Peter used himself as the obstacle. With the man down, and slightly dazed from the encounter with the clock, he was able to maneuver himself so that he had the man locked down.  Peter was so glad he paid some attention in P.E. class.

_ Thank you, Coach Wilson! _

“Go, hurry!” said Peter as he shot his webshooters at Russo, rooting the man’s wrists to the floor.  At the corner of his eyes, he saw the two of them race out quickly. They were close, well, Karen was anyway.  Russo, however, chose that moment to rip through Peter’s webbing. With his palm open, he slammed it into the side of Peter’s face, knocking him back, straight into a lovely 70’ TV screen.  The man then shot out his webbing at Castle, catching him in the leg. Sparing no time, he yanked the former soldier backwards, causing him to fall painfully onto the floor. 

Rising up as quickly as he could, Peter went into a flying tackle on to Russo and was able to stop the man from pulling Castle any further.  Karen helped Castle up, and there was an exchange that happened between them that Peter couldn’t really focus on since he was a bit busy, but the gist was likely:  Go now and get help, I’ll be okay.

_ Mr. Castle sure has a lot of faith in me _ , Peter couldn’t help but think.

Before Karen left, however, she gave Peter one last look before reluctantly disappearing through the doorway. 

Peter was so glad that she did that because seconds later, Russo broke through his hold and shot a second webbing; this one catching Castle’s midsection.  This time, however, instead of pulling, Russo simply started to swing the man in a counter clockwise direction. 

Oh no, this wasn’t good, thought Peter

Moving as fast as he could, Peter managed to grab hold of Castle in Russo's mid-swing, wrapping him in a bear hug as the Inhuman swung out.  Peter felt himself scrape across the kitchen cabinets, splintering through the wood and knocking out its contents. It didn’t end there, however, because seconds later, he and Castle were launched through one of the large paned glass windows overlooking the harbor.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that.  Even as they crashed through, Peter didn’t even feel the glass shards slice through his already injured back.  Instead, fear gripped him as he saw Russo turn his back towards them, starting back to the hallway.

What was going on? Didn’t he want Castle alive for his revenge? Why was he... oh no.  Russo was going for Karen and Nora. This had been a trap for Peter, because the inhuman knew that he would save Castle, that he would use himself as a shield.  He had to keep in mind he was fighting a man with military training.

A crazy suddenly hatched in Peter’s mind and he had only a split second to decide.  

Yeah, I’m going for it, Peter thought.

With one hand tightly gripping Castle, Peter shot out his webbing towards Russo, just before the man made it out the apartment door. 

Gravity did the rest for Peter.

While Russo’s strength was back, his spidey senses clearly hadn’t completely returned.

Russo let out a surprised cry as he was pulled through very window he had tossed Peter and Castle out through.

There was a slight sense of victory hearing the man’s surprise as he fell.  

“Shit, not again kid!” He heard the worry laced words cry out from Castle as they plummeted.  As they fell, Peter could hear sirens sounding not too far away. No doubt the police had caught wind of what was going on.

“No worries, got it under control,” he said reassuringly to the man as he quickly latched his webbing on to an adjacent building, and swing widely away from the falling inhuman.

What Peter had done, no doubt pissed off the inhuman because the man had forgotten about Karen and Nora; his focus realigned onto Peter.

_ Good _ , thought Peter.   _ Let’s play some tag. _

The only problem right now was that he still had Castle on him, and that meant the man was in danger.  But Peter didn’t know where he could place him so that he would be safe. What if Russo broke off pursuit of Peter and went for Castle, then what?  Or what if he did that web explosion thing again like back in the living room? That was a contained area. If it happened in open space the situation could be wildly worse.  Not to mention if Russo found out another hidden power... honestly, Peter didn’t think he could handle anymore surprises.

What he needed to do now was keep the Inhuman away from the general populous.  Not that there were a lot of people wandering around in the dead of night. But the sun should be rising soon, and there would be more people Russo could use, could hurt.

That and the fact that after the last skirmish with former military man, Peter’s wounds had all reopened again.  He needed to deal with Russo while he still could. 

How long he could hold out, that was another question entirely.

Noting his surroundings, Peter recognized that he was close to the Hell’s Kitchen Piers now.  Suddenly an idea, a dangerous one, popped into his mind. Peter wished there was another way, but he was running out of options. 

The silence must have worried Castle because the man spoke, “Kid, you okay?”

“I’m alright, Mr. Castle,” he said trying his best to sound reassuring.   In truth, Peter was really really not okay. He was at the end of his rope, and running purely on adrenaline.  Once that ran out, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

Castle thankfully didn’t question him on it.

“Reason why we’re heading closer and closer to the water?”

“I have an idea.”

“Care to share?  Maybe I can help somehow.  I don’t want to be no ones burden.”

Peter paused a moment before answering.

“We’re going to be really really high up, Mr. Castle.  I won’t drop you, but it might be real uncomfortable for you.”

There was a tensing in the man, before he spoke again, “Kid, there’s something you’re not telling me.”  Frank’s voice was laced with concern that it made Peter scared about what he was about to do too.

Peter didn’t have the heart to tell the man, because it scared the hell out of him too.  But if it meant… if it meant a way to stop Russo, then he’d have to risk it.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Castle, it’ll be okay.  I’ll make sure Russo is stopped, once and for all.”

**Claire Temple**

Foggy Nelson, you damn genius, thought Claire as the lawyer managed to convince the officers there that they, the “Defenders” had nothing to do with anything and whatever they had on them, it was completely circumstantial.  In the end, they were all technically free to go.

And they would have left, and were in the process of leaving when a call came in.  A 911 emergency operative had called in – Spider-Man had been spotted at 160 Leroy Street.  The moment Claire heard that address, she felt it sounded familiar. When the name Nora Gibson came up, she felt a chill go up her spine.  Damn it, it had better just have been the kid that showed up there and not Russo. But someone, Claire’s gut told her otherwise. The 911 call was made – so it was definitely a cry for help.  The reports kept rolling in, Spider-Man, or the Spider-Mans had left the vicinity and they were tearing down at maddening speeds to where analysts triangulated both were headed towards Pier 78 area.

The station was suddenly in a frenzy and immediately Detective Grahams took charge, setting up teams.  Within minutes, everyone was deployed, the expressions on their faces, Claire saw the resolve to kill, not taking the Spider-Man alive.

As a nurse, Claire didn’t wish ill fate on anyone, but Russo was a monster.  What he had done to Colleen and the countless other innocent people, it was unforgivable.  No doubt, the officers that had been deployed out to apprehend him felt the same way. What she feared, however, was that the kid, Peter, was the one that had been reported, not Russo.  The kid was already gravely injured, and with this much firepower was heading his way and the mindset of take no prisoners, Peter was in serious trouble.

One look at Luke and Jessica, she knew they were thinking the same thing.   A slight nod was all that was needed before they all started out the station door together.

Foggy was the one who stopped them with a call, “Hey, where are you guys going?”

Concern etched on the man’s face. 

“We’re going to find your friend and take down Russo,” said Luke.  

“Then I’m coming too,” said Foggy, with equal determination on his face.


	11. Chapter 11

**Nora Gibson**

Her heart pounding like mad, Nora thought it was going to leap out from her.   That and the possibility of early delivery of her baby. She hadn’t wanted to leave Miss Page there in the hallway, but the woman insisted and provided a good reason too  – Spider-Man needed to know what was on that laptop, what was Russo’s weakness. If the man somehow damaged the laptop, then all would be lost.

Some floors down, Nora finally set herself down In the middle of the staircase, and turned on the laptop.  Waiting impatiently, she watched as the small Apple logo loaded up and then the sign-in fields appeared. The username, Nora knew.  Password... Damn it. A password. A birthday maybe? Debbie didn’t really make her passcodes hard, and the number of times she had to remind her friend to make more secure ones only hinted to Nora that it was something simple. 

The question was how simple?

Nora typed in Debbie’s birthday.  Nope. Her mother’s maiden name? Nope.  And then of course, the simplest there was, Debbie’s cat – Marmalade.

Bingo.

As the computer loaded in, Nora went directly to the browser application.  Instantly she saw there were multiple tabs open. Scanning them quickly, Nora found the very last one was on an online video streaming site.  It instantly started to play the cached video, and she knew it was the right one when she heard the “Spider-Man” tune that was being amateurly hummed.  Nora had been afraid that she would have had to sift through Debbie’s history, but this was better. But it also implied that it may have been the last video her friend watched before she was killed.

Just as the Spider-Man had predicted, it was definitely a fan video.  Yet still, this wouldn’t have been something her friend would have pulled for patients to watch.   Then it occured to Nora it might have been one of those autoplay suggested videos. 

As the video played, Nora felt fear grip her.  This fan was insane. He gave Russo a whole lot of powers, and probably a number of them the Inhuman didn’t even know he had.  If the man did know them, the death toll would have been much higher.

Nora waited impatiently as the fan rattled on and on all the insane theories of powers Spider-Man had.  Where the heck was he going to get to his idol’s weakness?

Finally the teen started to talk about it.

_ “Like, Spider-Man, he’s so f*cking awesome, he should have these powers, right?  But with all super heroes, they’ve gotta have a weakness? No shit, weakness in Spider-Man? You’re asking?  NowhereInTheWorldMan last week asked about this, and I was like, f*ck, you think he has one? Guy’s got super senses, controls spiders, acid webbing that shoots from his wrists!  Should he have a weakness? Like maybe spray him with a can of bug spray or something? Haha, yeah, that would be cool, but not in my books. That won’t work. Not the Spider-Man I know.  My answer for you buddy, no, he ain’t got no weakness. He’s Spider-Man!” _

“No,” said Nora aloud, her blood running cold.  “This can’t be it. Damn it!” Looking at the amount of time left, Nora’s heart sank - fifteen seconds.

_ Damn, bug spray would have been the perfect weakness _ , thought Nora.   

_ “But hey you know, one thing a spider can’t do?  It can’t f*cking swim. So maybe Spider-Man can be stripped of his mojo if you like drown him in water? Ha. That would be funny.  Till next time, name’s Kyle Moss, remember to subscribe to my channel!” _

“Kyle Moss,” muttered Nora under her breath, “You bloody created a monster with your crazy ideas.  But thank God you got sense to give the mad man a weakness, even if it is speculative.”

The next problem was, how the hell were they supposed to “drown” a guy if they couldn’t even hold him? 

Nora knew she needed to get this information to the real Spider-Man.  Shutting the laptop, she started up the steps only to hear the sound of a door opening.  Feeling a surge of panic, her grip on the laptop tightened. If anything she could throw the laptop at Russo in hopes of a distraction.

“Nora?”

Thank God.

“Karen,” she said aloud, letting out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

Quickly the blonde woman descended down and gave her a quick embrace.

“You’re okay?”

Nora nodded.

“Did you find anything on laptop?”

“Yes, we need to get this to Spider-Man.  Is he…” Nora trailed off when she saw the expression on Karen’s face.

“Russo didn’t…”

“No.  Last I saw him, he was upstairs, tackling Russo.”

“Should we go back up?”

Karen looked unsure. 

“I found something on the laptop.  It was just as Spider-Man said, a fan video, it all started from it.”

“Okay, let’s go back up then.  But stay behind me.”

Nora nodded as they started their way back up to the top floor.

As the reached to the last floor, looked tense, as if she sensed something.  Pressing her index finger against her lips, she motioned Nora to step back as she slowly pushed the door open. 

Karen didn’t move, she stood frozen to the spot.  Curious, Nora looked past her and saw a dozen of officers with guns trained on to them.

“Freeze!”

Karen remained where she was, keeping her hands up and Nora shielded with her own body. 

“Hey, hey, back up okay,” she said as she slowly moved forward.

Karen was protective, but Nora was no lightweight herself.  Just because she was pregnant didn’t mean she couldn’t handle herself.  That and she didn’t want to waste time – Spider-Man needed this.

“I’m the one that called you guys!” She called out as she made her way around Karen, who was surprised at her boldness.

Slowly the guns lowered when they saw her approach them. 

Yes, who would point a gun at a pregnant woman.

“Look, if you’re looking for the killer, Spider-Man, I know a way to stop him.” At the corner of her eyes, she saw an officer speak to his radio softly.

“And, just to note, there are  _ two  _ of them, one of them has been trying to stop the impersonator all night.  So don’t go in blindly shooting, there’s a good guy out there putting his life at risk.  He’s saved my life and dozens of others at the hospital twice over.”

As she explained the situation, the officers had escorted them back to the penthouse apartment.  There, Nora could all but hold back a gasp to the extent of the damage. What drew her attention most, however, was the fresh blood splatters on the white marbled floors.  One look at Karen and she knew the devastation she must have been feeling too.

Staring at the bloodstains on the floor, on the furniture, cabinets.... Nora hoped that was Russo’s blood.  It had better be. 

“Miss Gibson?”

Nora turned her attention to the voice, and saw a tall lanky middle-aged man with dark hair approach her.  The man looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept for days. Given the circumstances, Nora wasn’t surprised if that was actually true.

“I’m Detective Grahams.  My officers tell me you have some intel that can help us apprehend the Spider-Man?”

Nora nodded and flipped open the laptop again.

_ Russo, you bastard, we’ve got you now. _

**Frank Castle / The Punisher**

The kid, Peter, as he introduced himself finally, was lying to Frank about how badly injured he was.  Frank could  _ feel _ the kid’s blood soak into his clothes.  Not to mention the glass that was likely embedded in his back. How he was still on the move was an anomaly on its own.

Damn it, Frank wanted to help, but there wasn’t anything he could do.  If he had any weapons, he’d have gladly shot Russo a dozen times over, this time, he’d aim for the head.  All this shit had happened because of him. He had wanted the man to suffer, to live and have that mangled looking face stare back at him, haunt him.  Instead, fate had other things planned and instead gave Russo super powers so he could not only get his revenge, but kill dozens of innocent people.

He had asked Peter over and over to set him down somewhere, let Russo get his revenge, but the kid wasn’t having it.  That and the fact that there wasn’t exactly any time for him to set him down. Russo was literally seconds behind them and he could see how much concentration the kid had to use just to avoid getting caught in Russo’s wild webshots from behind.

When Peter had confessed to him that he had an idea, Frank’s ears had perked up.  It wasn’t a very good one, the kid admitted, but it would work. He told him that they were going to go high, like really high up once they reach the Piers.  Frank would fall for a bit, but it would be okay, he’d be safe. Peter, however, didn’t really go into detail on how he was going to catch Russo. And Frank didn’t get a chance to really ask any more because by then, the were literally at the Piers.  

The kid planned this, Frank’s gut told him.  He planned it so that Frank couldn’t get the full details of he was planning to do.

At the Piers, Frank could see that there were a dozen of spotlights scanning the night sky and sounds of helicopters close by. 

Peter asked Frank then if he could do something for him immediately.  That something was to goad Russo, distract him so that he would follow them, no matter what.  Let the man’s emotions cloud his judgment.

Ha.  Frank could definitely do that. 

“Sure kid, that’s my specialty.”

That got a small chuckle for the kid and Frank couldn’t help but smile.  If they ever got out of this alive, he was so taking this kid for lunch. Dinner.  Wherever the hell he wanted to go. Him and the rest of the damn Defenders – though he may exclude the latter just for the fact they were nowhere to be found.  What were they doing? Were they taking a nap or something? Two of them had super strength and one of them had a glowing fist. They should have been here, doing everything they could to help the kid.

“You give him to me now, kid, and I’ll let you off,” crowed out Russo from not too far behind.

Frank wanted to roll his eyes.

_ Seriously, Billy?  That’s the best you can do?  Like he’s going to f*cking trust a word you say? _

The kid ignored Russo’s words, and instead replied with, “No, I don’t think so.  But hey, since we’re talking, why are you so obsessed with the Punisher?”

Even calling out his quip to the inhuman was taxing for Peter, Frank realized when he felt the hitched breathing on the kid.  That was why he needed Frank to help him do the talking, the goading. 

“What, you weren’t even listening?  Don’t schools teach kids to listen now?”

Frank decided to jump in then,

“Hard to listen to a p*ssy talk, and whine about not having a face.  I’d have to say though, even if you may hate it, this is a f*cking improvement,” Frank said with a smirk, though inwardly he felt apologetic for having to use foul language in front of Peter.

“Last I saw, your pretty little face was nothing but a mash of flesh and bone.  Better than you deserve though.” 

“Shut your f*cking mouth,” shouted Russo as he moved in more towards them, throwing caution in the wind.

_ Hmm, maybe I’m too good at my job.  _

Frank could feel Peter tense up, but he was still keeping ahead and swinging upwards, and notably closer to the open waters of the Hudson river.  Russo had “shown” him New York City on a bird’s eye view earlier, and Frank hadn’t much appreciated that. Now it was happening again. He had a dread in him that Peter’s plan was a dangerous one.

“When I get you, Castle, I’m going to make sure I make you watch as I tear that kid to pieces in front of you.  Or maybe I’ll burn him, just like those two kids you like so much?” Russo cooed the last sentence to Castle, making him feel a burning rage.

Leo.  Russo had killed her in the second fire, having missed her the first time around.  God, he wanted to pound the man down with his own fists. But he needed to keep a cool head, if anything, for Peter.

“Even with your new found powers, Billy, you’re still a useless piece of shit.  You can’t even hold yourself against a kid. I can see him beating the shit out of  _ you  _ and you living out of a f*cking cage for the rest of your life under government supervision.  Maybe they’ll even dissect you there. Now that makes me feel better already.”

“Yeah?  You think I can’t take down the kid?  I so f*cking can,” snapped Russo as he quickened his pace even more.  He was literally only two steps behind them.

This couldn’t be good.

“Um Peter, your plan, is this it?”

“Yeah,” said the kid, and it sounded tired. 

_ You’ve got this, Peter _ , thought Frank, and the Spider-Man continued the upwards swing, strategically using the various cranes by the docks as anchors.  Thank God for all the construction in the area. 

**Jessica Jones**

Racing out of the police station, she could feel Luke, Claire, and Foggy close behind her.  They needed a cab now since running all the way to the docks was nuts. 

By pure coincidence a yellow cab sat stationary right in front of them.  The driver, however, looked as if he were in an argument with someone on the phone.

Just as Jessica approached the vehicle to tap on the glass to get the man’s attention, the driver happened to roll down his window.

_ Guess he’s done on the phone _ , thought Jessica.

“You guys need a cab?”

“Hell yeah.”

Immediately the four of them instantly hopped inside the cab, with Jessica in the passenger seat.

“Where to?” asked the cabbie.

“The docks.  Pier 78 area.”

“Okay, no problem,” said the young driver grinning broadly and stared at her just a little too long.

“You all in a rush?” He asked after a beat.

“Yes,” they all said in unison.

“Then you’ve met the right taxi driver,” said the man with a grin as he gunned the engine.

“Jesus,” gasped Foggy as he felt the lurch, leaving Jessica to roll her eyes slightly.

While they were in the taxi, Claire contacted the hospital to where Colleen and Danny were taken.  Good news was given; Colleen was okay, she was out of surgery and in recovery. Danny, while he was physically fine, was still unconscious.  Jessica assumed it was due to over using his chi to save Colleen.

The driver tried a few times to do small talk, but everyone was way too anxious to say much.  Especially when he switched the radio channel to a news one. The report of what happened at Leroy apartment showed evidence of a violent encounter.  The place was described by the newscaster as a warzone. There was also apparently blood splayed all over the penthouse suite. They were speculating it might be Frank Castle’s.

Jessica looked over to the others and she knew they were all thinking the same thing.  It probably wasn’t his, but Peter’s instead.

When the vehicle finally came to a complete stop, Foggy opened his side of the door and stumbled out, face looking rather pale and green.  Jessica wasn’t sure if it was the ride or the fact his mind was reeling from all the worse-case scenarios for his friend since he had been trying to call her relentlessly during the drive.

Suddenly, Foggy’s phone rang, and he froze a moment before answering it.  The first relieved sounding word being ‘Karen’ spoke volumes that the abducted woman was okay.

While the lawyer talked to his friend, Jessica took the time to pay the taxi driver.  Pulling out two scrunched up twenties from her back pocket, she handed it to the man. The driver surprisingly waved off her payment.

“No need, Miss Jones.  Mr. Cage,” he nodded in acknowledgment to Luke at the back.

Hearing him say her name surprised Jessica.

“Big fan of you Defenders.  Was on my way going to pick up DP, but this is way cooler.”

_ DP?  Who was that? _

“Here’s our card, by the way, if you ever need us,” and the man handed a card to Jessica. 

It read:  Team X-Force.  And that was it.

“Uh, we’re still working on what else to write on it,” said the man looking embarrassed.

“Maybe a phone number?” Suggested Claire who peered at it from the backseat.

“Oh shit.  Yeah. Number.”  Quickly the man took out a pen and scribbled a barely legible number.

“There.  Damn. This is pretty awesome.  Defenders. Damn, DP is going to be so jealous I got to meet you guys.  You guy’s going to save Spider-Man? I can help. I can call DP and we’ll be your backup?”

“Um, nah, we got it handled,” it was Luke that answered, he and Claire were out of the taxi at this point.  Jessica moved to do the same, opening up the passenger door and feeling the cool night air hit her. 

“Oh… okay,” he said, sounding dismayed.  The man no doubt was about to add more but then phone started to ring.

“Ah, you sure?” said the driver as he distractedly looked at his phone. “Sorry,  DP is calling… gotta go,” though the driver sounded deeply reluctant. 

He seriously really wanted to help out.  Commendable but too dangerous, thought Jessica.

Just before driving off, the man shouted out, “Name’s Dopinder by the way.  Real honor to meet you guys! Goodluck with your mission!”

Once the man had left, the four looked at each other.

Even for Jessica, the encounter was extremely weird.  What was this, superhero teams meet and greet? First Spider-Man, now this ‘X-Force’?  Who the heck was DP?

This night was just too weird.

Jessica was ready to move, but she was stopped by the lawyer who said he had important information to relay from Karen.

As anxious of she was feeling in helping Peter, Jessica knew that intel was just as important.  

First, Foggy quickly told Claire that the nurse, Nora Gibson, was okay.  Her friend let out a breath of relief at that information. 

Foggy continued, however, with bad news:  Frank Castle was taken by the Spider-Man. They weren’t exactly sure which of them took him, but one of them was in hot pursuit of the other.  It might be Peter trying to get to Russo who had Castle... or it could be the other way around. Jessica, however, knew better. From the news report’s description on the radio, the Spider-Man that had Castle, he was gravely injured.  

Jessica still couldn’t believe that Tony Stark hadn’t suited up in his Ironman armour to deal with the shit that was going down.  It might be below his pay grade, but seriously, his protege, was out there, hurt but still fighting. The kid needed his backup!

Shaking herself out of her anger at the billionaire, she listened as Foggy provided a vital piece of information given by Karen:  There was a way to defeat the guy - that was simply to drown him. The goal, though, wasn’t to kill him, but the process would actually strip the guy’s powers.  Foggy added though, it was still just a hunch.

Hypothetical or not, Jessica didn’t care.  It was worth a try. And given that the two Spider-Mans were swinging around the Pier area, it was a much easier task to take on.  Dunk the right one in water, hold him down till he passes out, then resuscitate him. Easy. Jessica would gladly even take on the task herself, maybe even skip the last bit, especially after what he had done to Colleen.

_ “That would be murder, Jessica...” _  a voice suddenly whispered to her.

Jessica ignored as the phantom Killgrave appeared beside her.  She didn’t time for this. Focus. Focus!

As quickly as he had appeared, the man’s smug face disappeared from the corner of her eye.  

Good.  Let’s keep it this way.  Jessica couldn’t afford anymore distractions.  She needed to focus on the present. 

And the present begged the question:  Did Peter know any of this information?

It would make sense then that he was leading Russo to a trap by the Pier.  This guess, however, was busted when Foggy said Karen wanted  _ them _ to pass on the message to Spider-Man.

Great... then what exactly was the kid’s plan?  

Whatever it was, there was dread that suddenly washed over Jessica.  No. They needed to get Peter out of this and help him take out Russo themselves.  The kid wouldn’t even think about drowning anyone in the first place, so if anything, Peter was going to try and incapacitate Russo somehow...

Shit.

Oh no, no you don’t Peter, thought Jessica in alarm as the possibility of what the kid’s real plan came to light.

“Shit, the kid is going to do something seriously dangerous.  I’m going ahead.”

“I’ll follow too, Jessica,” said Luke, then looked at Claire.  “You okay staying here?”

“Yeah. I’m going to prepare some first aid stuff.  I can’t imagine Peter doing better than he was back at the dojo and he’s not going to want to go to any hospital.”

That was true.  As injured as the Peter was, he would want to keep his identity secret, Jessica realized.

Luke gave Claire a quick embrace and his eyes met hers.  He was ready. Racing ahead, Jessica looked up ahead and saw the spotlights were tracking something in the sky.

Yeah.  It was the kid.  God she hoped the cops didn’t open fire.  Yet given Peter’s luck all night, Jessica wasn’t betting on the odds. 

Literally a swing behind Peter was Russo.  The bastard was gaining on them fast, and the kid just looked like he was tiring and slowing down.

His injuries must have taken its toll on him.

The kid was running out of things to anchor his webbing to, he was literally at the tip of one of the freaky tallest crane she’d ever seen in her life.  Jesus, what were they building?

_ Peter, you can do this.  Hang in there! We’re close.  Just hang on! _

Helicopters sounded above Jessica, and there was a swell of hope.  They would take down Russo and get Peter out of there.

Jessica felt like she was holding her breath as she made her way towards the terminal.  She was close, very very close.

Suddenly her heart sank as Peter suddenly dropped Castle, and what happened next froze her to the spot.  Luke who was only seconds behind her nearly crashed into her. But he didn’t say a word but stared in shock as she did.

_ No.  Peter, don’t you dare!  Not like this. _

Jessica rarely used her aviation skills because she was awful in her landings.  However, given the urgency, it didn’t matter if she crashed to the ground afterwards.

Running forward, she leapt above the terminal building to the docks and felt the wind against her face as she tried to beat time and gravity at the same time.  Her landing, as she feared, was crap, but at least she didn’t land on her face. Not even bothering to dust herself off, she tore into a mad sprint towards the river banks; but even she knew it was too late.  Both Peter and Russo were gone, pulled into the depths of the Hudson River.

_ Oh no, you are so not going out this way, not on my watch! _

Without any hesitation, Jessica dove headfirst into the river.

**Peter Parker / Spider-Man**

Russo was close, really really close behind.  Peter had slowed down his swings on purpose because he needed the man in close proximity in order to make his plan work.

When Peter had first gotten his powers, he had kept note of his limitations.  Where would Spider-Man be weakest, was probably a place where he should lead Russo to.  He knew that places with nothing to anchor and swing from, like a suburban town with just residential buildings, Peter would be limited in what he could do.  The same would apply to the Inhuman. The Pier and the water was also such a place also, once enough distance was created from the banks, Russo would have nothing to get him back to shore.  That and also there would be few people, aside from the swarm of police surrounding them. 

While Peter knew his webbing worked in water conditions - albeit not at its best, he hoped that Russo’s may not work as well once he was immersed in it.  Not that Peter had any real evidence to back that up, everything was very much speculative.

While his plan involved luring Russo towards the Piers, it also included in using the NYC police and the numerous resources they had pushed out to capture him.  Helicopters, speed boats, snipers, swat teams, local cops, you name it, Peter was pretty sure they were out there.

The helicopter bit of the plan was to use it to be Castle’s safety net.  Peter was going to use it as an anchor to secure Castle over the Hudson River while at the same time take Russo down with him into the waters. 

Peter wasn’t crazy to just dive in and not come up, no.  His intention was to pull Russo towards him, web him up enough so that he couldn’t get out of his bounds until they were in the water. 

Ideally, while he kept Russo in the water secured, the cops that were literally swarming the Pier would make their move and shock the guy with the Stark weapon a few times, and done, super villain apprehended.  Then Peter would… well, swim off into the sunrise? Honestly, he hadn’t thought that far as to how  _ he _ was going to get away.  And the fact he was basing the whole gamble the authorities were going to use the shocker weapon to apprehend Russo and not real guns.  That and also Peter was going under the assumption they wouldn’t shoot  _ him _ with the weapons.  

_ Nora and Karen, they would have cleared that up with the authorities _ , Peter tried to assure himself.  They were not going to shoot him, he was the good guy afterall.

Time for second guessing his plan was up though, it was now or never.  Though a small part of Peter hoped for the latter.

The helicopter hovered just slightly out of Russo’s range – Peter had been calculating the man’s reach during the chase, and he was certain of Russo’s webbing distance.  By the time the man released his anchor, in mid-swing, it would be the perfect time for Peter to act.

“Mr. Castle?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“It’s time.  Brace yourself.”

It was fast, and it had to be:  Peter dropped the webbed up Castle - something he had done earlier, and then connected the webbing to the landing skids of the nearest helicopter.  Within the same window of time, Peter shot out his webbing as he free fell, onto Russo, pulling him down with him. 

The Inhuman flailed and fought against him, trying to use his webbing to latch onto the helicopter closest in range - the one Peter had binded Castle to.

Peter, however, refused to give him the opportunity.  Using his own sticky webbing, he literally glued Russo to him, making sure that man couldn’t aim his webshooters anywhere near the surrounding anchor points.

This no doubt pissed the former soldier off.

It was this that worried Peter the most in his plan - the time midair just before falling into the water.  It would only be a few seconds, but Russo, well, he didn’t really need that much time to do serious damage to Peter.

Peter felt the man dig his hands into his wounds, and he could all but cry out in pain.  He felt as if his whole body was on fire, but that lasted only an instant before another even more painful jolt ripped through him.

_ No, this was so not part of the plan.  Why did they shoot him too? Did someone miss the memo again? _

It was either that, or they just didn’t care.

With his body still seizing from the STARK weapon’s discharge, Peter felt like dead weight as he hit the water hard with Russo still holding a deathgrip on him.  While the STARK weapon also stunned the Inhuman, the man was still able to move, albeit much slower. The struggle was real, but Russo was determined, Peter could tell, to end his life.  Already under water, the man used Peter as a personal launch pad; shoving him down and a making a break for the surface. 

Unlucky for Russo, however, it was then that a net happened to come down.  The man struggled to get out of it, but it only got it more tangled. Figures with glo lights appeared in the water moments later and Peter knew that that there were divers; they were going to finally capture the Inhuman.  Thank God.

The celebration, however, was short because Peter was still sinking at an alarming rate; the distance between him and the surface had grown quite wide.  It didn’t help that Russo had also pushed him off at an angle. 

Peter wasn’t going to give up, however.  He struggled with every bit of his being to shake off the paralysis.  Did it last this long the last time? He didn’t think it had. But then again, he noticed that each time he was stunned with the STARK weapon, it took longer and longer for him to recover from it.

Peter knew he was in serious trouble when the divers and their glo lights were suddenly only shadows.  

_ No!  Please!  Someone... someone help me.  I...I don't wanna go. _

Peter felt his lungs tighten, he was running out of air.  The wounds that Russo had rudely torn open even more, bled freely in the water.  Like a splash of red paint, it spread all around Peter.

The surface, was now no longer visible to Peter, in its place was just a sheet of black.  Weariness washed over him, but he wasn’t going to stop fighting. He had to get back to the surface.  May. Ned. Mr. Stark. He couldn’t leave like this. He wasn’t ready to go. Peter struggled against the paralysis triggered by the STARK weapon and finally, he felt his fingertips tingling, then his toes, his legs, and arms... he could move now.

Wasting no time, Peter, propelled himself upwards, towards the surface, towards life.

He was close, so close.  There was a light, dim as it was, it was there.  Peter had to reach it, he had to. Black spots started to appear over his eyes.  

_ No.. please, no... _

Peter continued to push himself forward, no matter how much his lungs wanted to burst for just a breath of air.  

Just a little more, and he would be at the surface.  A little more.

The silent motto held up until... until he reached the light he had been swimming towards.  Peter’s hope that it was a diver was dashed when he saw saw it was just the glo stick on its own.  One of them must have dropped it and it must have sank down.

Peter choked out a cry of dismay as he grabbed onto the glo stick to use it to light his way.  He was going to try, till his last breath, to get back to the surface. Though even with his resolve, nothing could deny reality:  the surface was just too far for Peter to reach. 

He knew he reached his limit when he couldn’t help but let out his breath.  Immediately he felt the icy river water rush into his lungs. Peter felt the coldness wrap around him, closing in, chaining him to the watery abyss below.

While Peter’s mind screamed to live, his body seized in the water.  The glo stick suddenly slipped from his hold. 

Peter didn’t want to give in, he wanted to live.  But his body no longer wanted to listen to him, instead it chose to give into the weariness.  Peter reached out his arm towards the surface, trying again to reach out, moments before darkness claimed him.

**Frank Castle / The Punisher**

When Peter had told him the plan, the kid had failed to mention that he planned to grab hold of Russo and go down with him into the water.  If the kid had told him, Frank wouldn’t have gone along with the plan.

Frank should have asked.  He should have  _ known _ .  The kid had already put himself in harm's way more than once all night.

Just as Peter had said in his detailing of Castle’s part of the plan:  he would fall from a high drop point. There was a lurch and he was secured to landing skids of the helicopter, dangling there.  Frank, however, had to watch the kid fall, and then  _ pull _ the psychopath towards him, so that Russo would be out of reach to any anchor point. 

After that, he watched as the two wrapped together in a free fall, and Peter cry out in agony as the bastard jabbed into the kid’s injuries.

_ You assh*le! _

But that wasn’t the worse part.  No. The worse was when two more copters that joined them, they shot the STARK weapon at the kid and Russo. 

Shit.  Things had gone from bad to a nightmare.

The kid was going to go under if he wasn’t able to move!

“You assh*les!  What are you doing!  Why the hell did you shoot them both?!”

But no one of course was listening to him and Frank was literally shouting to air.

A net was thrown over the area where the Russo and Peter had entered the water.  Shit, what the hell are they thinking? Russo would just use the netting to get out, flipping the boat while he was at it.

And just as predicted, Russo yanked the netting, pulling the boat forward, and startled some of the occupants who in turn fell into the water.

What was surprising however, it stopped there.  The boat wasn’t flipped over after that. Divers went in to the river and Frank waited with apprehension for them to resurface with Russo and the kid.

It felt like forever when finally, the netting came up and.. What the hell?

It was Russo...stark freakin’ naked, with his mangled up face facing the night sky and half a dozen news reporting station showing coverage.

The man was pulled onto the boat that connected the netting and paramedics started to recitate the former soldier.

Meanwhile, the divers returned back into the water.

Shit.  Where the hell was the kid?

If Frank could have launched himself into the water at that point, but Peter’s webbing while it was flexible, it was very secure.  He was stuck as an observer. Frank could only watch as the divers resurfaced every few minutes, shaking their heads.

No.

NO!

This wasn’t happening.  Frank felt cold all over.  It didn’t matter that Russo was caught.  The kid... the kid was gone. There was no way he could have held his breath that long.  

This... this was his fault.  The kid had traded his own life to save his.  Frank swallowed the lump in his throat. 

“But I’m not worth it kid.  I’m not,” he said softly.

Behind him, the sun had slowly began to rise, casting light to city of New York.  Frank didn’t notice any of it. Instead, he continued to stare down below, to the waters of the Hudson River, clinging on to the desperate hope the divers would return with Peter at any moment.  

They had to find the kid.  They just had to.

**Ned Leeds**

Ned hadn’t been able to sleep since Peter called him.  Peter was hurt, Ned knew it. He didn’t sound right and his words to him, it seemed like a goodbye.  A part of him wished he hadn’t have helped Peter, but he was his best friend, and most importantly, his guy in the chair.  They were a tag team, working together to take down bad people.

It looked like, however, they weren’t a team anymore.  Because Ned had killed his best friend by helping him. 

May had returned home maybe about two hours ago, looking worried and exhausted.  Ned had wanted to tell her then and there that he talked to Peter, that he was okay, but he held his tongue at the last minute.

Now, as he watched the news report on his laptop, he wanted to throw up.  They showed footage of the penthouse apartment that Ned had given the address to Peter of.  The place was in pieces. Literally. And there was blood everywhere. 

_ What have I done? _

If Ned had just said he couldn’t find the address, Peter wouldn’t have been there.  The news report continued to say that there were in fact two Spider-Mans on the loose in the City, one who was violent, and one who was the real one.

Obviously! Was what Ned wanted scream at the screen, but instead he watched with apprehension as they showed live footage of the two Spider-Man’s swinging across the city.

Another news flash notification appeared on Ned’s computer and it said, “Killer caught, but Spider-Man still missing.”

No.  No... Peter.  Instantly Ned clicked on the video and they showed the Piers 78 in Hell’s Kitchen where they showed a naked unconscious guy being cuffed and carried away in a stretcher.   Dozens of divers, however, remained in the Hudson River, searching ... searching his best friend.

The live footage went on for a full 15 minutes.  Ned knew Peter’s powers, and that didn’t include gills.

While he wanted to mourn for his friend, he knew that Peter would want him to make sure May was okay.

With the sun out already, Ned didn’t waste a moment.

“Hey, Mom?  Dad?” He called out, “I’m going over to Peters.  Be back soon!” 

Ned didn’t even wait for them to reply before he was out the door.

 

**Hope you guys liked the chapter!  Shout out to one of my commenters that had such a great idea for Russo's weakness :)  But I have such a flair for the dramatics, and went for what I had initially planned for Peter.  Hope everyone also liked the little cameo of one of DP's team members**


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry everyone for the delay!  Life got really busy so suddenly and I hadn't been able to update this story as much as I'd hoped.  Thanks for everyone's continued interest and support :)  You guys are the best!

**Danny Rand / Iron Fist**

Danny woke to find one hand handcuffed to the bed and multiple wires attached to him.  

_Well, much better than being strapped down like last time_ , thought Danny.  

Without much effort, he lit his Iron fist and broke through the restraint that held him.  Pulling off the wires, he started for the door, but was stopped when two nurses entered.  

“Mr. Rand, please you need to stay in bed,” said one of the nurses’ instantly.

The brunette next to her nodded in agreement, though she had already started to back away from him.

“I’m fine,” said Danny, though even as he said it, he felt a wave a nauseousness wash over him.  Maybe he wasn’t all fine, but he was as fine as he needed to be to get to Colleen and the rest of the team.  

“Where.. Where am I?”

“You’re at the Lower Manhattan Hospital,” answered the brunette frankly while remaining cautiously at a distance from him.

“My friend, Colleen Wing, where is she?” Danny dreaded the answer, yet he wanted one.  

It was the redhead that spoke, “She’s okay now, out of surgery and resting in the ICU.... would you like to see her?”

The brunette looked at her fellow nurse like she was crazy, but the woman ignored her and instead moved to lead Danny out of the room.

Danny wasn’t stupid to miss the nurse also mouthing to the other woman, “Call security.”

There was a reason why he was cuffed to the bed after all.

If Danny guessed everything correctly, things hadn’t gone well at the Dojo.  Shots had been fired and with Jessica bolting out of the room like that, he could only deduce that someone had been hurt.  Danny would have followed if Russo hadn’t gained the upperhand and stabbed Colleen with her own katana.

Hearing the nurse state that Colleen was okay had let out breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.  As Danny followed the redhead down the hall, he noted the lack of sunlight coming in from the large paned windows of the hospital wing.  It was still dark, which meant Danny hadn’t been out of the fight for that long, right? The question, however was if the Russo guy had been taken down while he was out of commission.  And his team, were they okay?

“This way, Mr. Rand,” said the nurse, motioning him to enter the ICU room they finally arrived at.

Danny followed the nurse inside and set his sights on the unconscious Colleen lying unconscious with multiple wires and tubings attached to her.  She seemed so still, so very still. It was only through seeing the heart rate monitor steady rate that told Danny she was alive. Slowly, he went to Colleen’s side and gently weaved his hand into hers.  

_So cold_ .  But _alive_.  That was the important thing.

Danny didn’t even need to turn to know that security had arrived.  They really weren’t very subtle about it at all, filing in twos and threes. But instead of arresting him, or pinning him down, they just stood there, waiting patiently for him to come to them.  

_At least I won’t need to fight my way out_ , thought Danny as he gently brushed away a stray hair away from Colleen’s forehead.

“Mr. Rand?”

“Yes,” said Danny, though still feeling weird being called “Mr.”

“We have some questions for you, if you don’t mind coming with us.”

Danny nodded, though he was reluctant to leave Colleen’s side.  

She’s in safe hands though, thought Danny.   

“I’ll be back, I promise,” he said to the sleeping Colleen before following security out the room.

“Before I go with you, can I make a quick phone call?” said Danny to the closest officer to him.  This was likely his only chance to find out if the situation with Russo was resolved.

The man gave Danny a tired yet wary look before nodding.  

“What the hell.  Been a shit night.  I’ll give you one call.  Make it quick,” and he handed him his cellphone.

“Thanks,” said Danny feeling grateful as he proceeded to dial Luke’s number.

**Luke Cage**

“Sweet Christmas,” breathed out Luke in both shock and awe as he saw Jessica literally leap over the terminal building of the Pier.  The last time he had seen her do that was back in the Midland circle building, saving all of them a very terrible fate of falling down an elevator shaft.

While Luke couldn’t exactly do the same as Jessica - flying not being one of his powers, he decidedly just broke through the door of the Terminal building.  The alarm blared, but he didn’t take notice as in that very moment, the cellphone in his back pocket started to ring.

Pulling it out, he recognized the number on the caller ID.  Danny. Not wasting a moment, Luke answered it.

“Danny?”

“Hey man. Um, what’s that sound?”

“Ah, just broke into a building....You’re awake.”

“Yeah, like woke up a few minutes ago?”

“Did you see Colleen?  How is she?”

“She’s.. She’s sleeping,” said Danny, though Luke could hear concern laced in his voice.  At least she was at a hospital, being taken care of by professionals. Which was by far better than he could say for the kid who was lost in the waters of the Hudson river.

“How are things on your end?  Russo taken care of?”

“No. Things are not good, Danny.”

“What happened? What can I do to help?” asked the Iron Fist quickly, concern lacing his voice.

Danny was too far away to be of any help at the moment... but... his name and mass fortune may be of use, thought Luke.

“The kid is in the water, Danny.  The Hudson River. Do you happen to have any connections to Pier 78? That’s where we’re at.  We might be needing some transport and distraction in and around the waters.”

Immediately, Danny responded, “I don’t know for sure, but I can contact someone who might be able to help.  The Spider-Man, is he okay? Can he swim?”

“From the looks of it, the local cops shot him with some sort of electrical weapon and he hasn’t resurfaced like the other guy.”

“Other guy?”

“Russo.  He’s been apprehended.  But the kid is still underwater.  Jessica’s gone ahead to help him, but we’re going to need transport and a distraction for to make sure we don't get caught.  There's no telling what the authorities might do to the kid to get answers.”

“Okay, then I’d better hurry.  I’ll call you after I talk to --,”

“Hey, I said one phone call!” said an annoyed voice from the other line.

That wasn’t good.  Sounded like Danny was in trouble with the authorities.  Sweet Christmas, did he go on about the Dragon and K’un Lun again?

“Look, I can straighten out what happened at the Dojo after I do this, okay?” responded Danny.

This... this was a job for Foggy Nelson, thought Luke instantly.  Obviously these officers missed the memo that the Defenders were cleared of charges.  Glancing at the number quickly to make sure he could redial the number, he told Danny, “Hey, kid, I’m sending a Lawyer your way, okay?  Hang tight.”

“Yeah, okay.  Thanks,” said Danny gratefully.  “Okay, okay, here’s your phone back,” and the line ended.

Time to call Claire.  Hopefully Foggy was still with her, though there wouldn’t be reason why he wouldn’t be.

Barely did the first ring even finish, Claire picked up.

“Luke? What’s going on?  Did you get Peter?”

“Who’s Peter?” Was the question posed in the background.  Yes. The lawyer was still there! He had to make his update quick to Claire and then get Foggy connected with Danny, so he could use his other superpower - money.

“Claire, things are not looking good.  Peter is in the Hudson... Jessica is searching for him.  We’re going to need a boat or something. Danny can hook us up, but he needs a lawyer right now.”

“Shit. Okay, Foggy, take this call,” said Claire and a second later, the man was on the line.  

“Luke?  What can I do to help?”

“Oh, do your lawyer magic again.”

“Okay... who do I need to get out?”

“Danny Rand, and you have to do it fast.”

**Jessica Jones**

Jessica searched the icy waters madly, her panic increased when she was forced to resurface.  

God damn it! She cursed to noone in particular as she went down again into the water again, gripping the glo stick she had come across in her search even more tightly.

_Where are you, Peter? Kid, this is not time to play hide and seek!_

A hand gently touched her shoulder and she looked to see it was Luke.  God. When did he get here? How long has Peter been under?

Luke passed her his oxygen mouthpiece - something he must have borrowed from the divers she guessed.  Jessica took it gratefully, drinking in the oxygen like a life raft. Even with just a few breaths, she felt better, less lightheaded.  

Feeling better, however, also made Jessica feel sick to her stomach.  The kid probably felt this, but ten times worse because he was alone down there.  Nevermind that it had been already far too long. If they did find him, was it ... was it going to be his body?

_No.  Keep your cool, Jess.  You don’t need this. Positive thinking._

Scanning the deeper waters below her, Jessica’s helplessness only increased.  How the hell was she going to be able to find Peter in such a vast space?

And then there she saw it, a faint light below her.  Chances were slim to none that it was Peter, but it was _something_.  Jessica’s gut instincts told her to just do it, follow it.  

Looking to Luke, she pointed downwards towards the light she had seen.  The man nodded in understanding and both of them moved quickly towards the dimming light.

Dimming.  That should have been a red flag for Jessica, but the hope that gripped her, it had overrode her logic.  If the light was dimming, then that really meant one thing: it was just a free falling glo stick, much like the one she herself had picked up.

Damn it, what was she thinking?  Peter had by some miracle grabbed onto a glo light and was making his way to the surface with it?  Yeah. Right. Not with all all the injuries the kid had sustained. Especially after the electrical charge he had received from the cops prior to falling into the water.  The weapon had literally lit up the night sky so the chances of it having minimal effect on Peter was next to nil.

Grasping at straws, that was what Jessica was doing.  That and wasting precious time. Stupid, stupid stupid!

Stupidly hopeful.

Jessica had been ready to reverse direction but something caught the corner of her eye.  A shadow of a figure.

_Peter?!_

Wasting no time in even telling Luke, she swam in the direction of the shadow, down deeper into the depths of the Hudson.  

There.  There he was, one hand outstretched, but reaching upwards.

_Got you kid!_

Grabbing the stretched out hand, she pulled Peter towards her.  The kid was ice cold, colder than the water itself, if that was possible.  

Swimming quickly towards the surface, with Luke following at equal pace, Jessica hoped they weren’t too late.

Once they rose to the top, she noticed how far off course she was from where Peter had fallen and where the search parties were.  Jessica knew it was no coincidence why the glo stick was where it was - it must have been in Peter’s hands at one point. It had continued its fall only because the kid had lost consciousness.  This gave Jessica hope. That meant Peter wasn’t without oxygen for that long.

_Define long, Jessica_ , taunted the voice of Killgrave.   _Shut up!_  Focus focus.  

Keeping the kid’s head above water, Jessica swam towards the closest bank, which happened to be grassland.  Some park. They were on the opposite side of the river from Pier 78.

Once she reached land, Jessica immediately lay Peter flat on the grass and peeled off the kid’s mask.  

God, this wasn’t good.  Peter’s lips were tinted blue, his skin a ghostly parlour with no color to speak of.  

Checking for a pulse, Jessica found there wasn’t one.  

Shit.  This was not happening.

_No, Peter.  Come on. You are not going out like this.  Come on, come on Peter!_

Jessica placed her right hand down on top of Peter’s chest, and the other hand overlapping it.  Elbows locked, and arms straight, she leaned over him, and began the chest compressions for CPR.

After thirty compressions, she tilted Peter’s head back, lifted his chin and tried to give him two breaths.  

_Come one Peter, come on!_

No response.

Jessica compressed the kid’s chest again.  Nothing.

“Peter.  Come on!” Cried out Jessica unable to hold it in.

_One, two, three, four, five ..._ she counted in her head, ...twenty nine, thirty.

_Breathe in twice._

_Come on, Peter, work with me here, please.  Just ... just breathe!_

Again she began the chest compressions.

Two breaths.

No response.

It wasn’t working.  It was too late. Jessica was too God damn late.

Yet she wasn’t going to give up.  No. She wasn’t giving up, and so Peter wasn’t allowed to give up either.  

Jessica could hear Luke on the phone, calling Claire no doubt.  

“Kid.  Please.  Come on. Please, don’t.  Don’t do this. Please. Just Breathe!”

_One, two, three, four ... twenty-nine, thirty - two breaths._

A normal person, after compressing this many times, especially by someone as strong as Jessica, their ribs would have been broken twice over.  But the kid was different.

Which was more the reason he _had_ get out of this.

_One, two, three, four ... twenty-nine, thirty - two breaths._

Finally, Peter let out a watery cough.

YES!

“Peter?”

The kid’s eyes slowly opened and blinked at her and then at Luke who had crouched on Peter’s other side.  

Oh no.  Did he not recognize them?  Brain damage? Had he been deprived of oxygen for too long?  

“Hey everyone,” he said with a wane smile looking to her and Luke as if he hadn’t just almost drowned in the Hudson River.

“Peter.  Oh God. You’re okay.  You’re okay,” said Jessica, relief flooding into her voice.  She hadn’t cared or worried that much about a person since... since Trish.  Before she had betrayed her and hurt Jessica in the most irreprensible way possible.  

“Luke, eta on Claire’s arrival?”

“She’ll be here in ten.”

Jessica looked at Peter and shook her head, “That’s too long.  Can we bring the kid to her?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to move him, Jessica,” Luke’s voice was gentle, but he was dead serious.  

If Jessica’s mind was thinking clearly, she would have asked how the hell Claire was suppose to show up on the opposite side of the Hudson River in a matter of minutes.  But she wasn’t thinking that at all.

All she could feel was apprehension as she looked at Peter’s current state.  It didn’t take a medical professional to see that the kid was _not_ doing well.  Breathing yes, he was doing that.  But aside from that, the rest of him was ... broken was the best to describe it.  Whatever the authorities had used to shock Peter, it had affected his healing abilities.  Peter’s wounds were all bleeding freely and a pool of blood had formed around him where he laid, soaking into the grass and dirt beneath.  

Where were they?   _Claire, we could really use your help right now!_

It was just an instant that Jessica looked away from Peter to check for Claire and Foggy and she heard the panicked voice of Luke.

“Kid?  Kid, you need to stay awake!” Said Luke in alarm as he gently shook Peter on his one uninjured shoulder.

A part of Jessica wanted to cry out to the authorities that they were **here** .  They could save Peter and toss out that assh*le Russo that was caught finally.  Have the paramedics take a look at the kid instead. _He_ deserved to be saved, not that monster.

But she knew that Peter would rather die than have the world know who he was.  

F*ck, this royally sucks.  Peter was a kid, he didn’t know better.  No. No secret was worth your life. Jessica could handle Peter hating on her for the rest of her life, but that was better than letting him die.

_But isn’t this the same as what Trish did?  She made the call, the hard call you couldn’t make.  She was worried about you. She took the shot, only wanting to help you.  She didn’t know the full story. Which was more the reason that Trish should have stayed out of it._

_Peter, come one.  Don’t do this!_

To Jessica’s relief, Peter’s eyes reopened again.  It might have been from the pain that kept him awake though since Luke had taken upon himself to use his own shirt as makeshift bandages for the kid.  The man pressed on Peter’s shoulder wound that bled badly.

“Claire said to leave the nursing stuff to her, but she did say to keep pressure on the injuries,” was his reply when Jessica looked at him.

“May.”

Jessica looked at Peter when he said that word.  It was filled with pain, regret.

“May.  Tell May...tell Aunt May I’m so sorry.  I broke my promise. I promised to come back home.  I ... I can’t... I can’t keep it” Peter’s breath suddenly became hitched, and blood trickled from his lips.  

_No. Nooo, I did not just go down there to pull you up and have you... have you die here!  Claire, where the hell are you?! Hurry. Please._

“Peter.  No. I’m not telling her that,” said Jessica, her voice firm as she could make it as she too crouched beside Peter again.  “You need to tell her yourself. Stay with me, Peter. Stay. Kid, you’ve been through so much. You’ve just got to hang on a little longer.  Okay?”

“I’m sorry... I’m sorry about your friend too.”

“Kid, no more apologies, you did more than anyone could ever expect,” said Luke shaking his head.

“Not enough,” said Peter.

Shit.  Did the kid think Colleen was dead and it was his fault?

“Peter, our friend, Colleen, the one at the Dojo, you saw hurt?  She’s okay, she’s at the hospital. You did good.”

The kid smiled slightly, seemingly relieved at the news.

“Can you, can you tell Mr. Stark that I’m real sorry too?  That I tried, I tried to make things right. Tell him it’s not his fault?  Please. He’d be so mad. So mad at me.,” the kid’s eyes were glassy with unshed tears.

_Tony Stark, what did you ever do to deserve this kind of loyalty?  This kind of belief in **you** of all people, _ thought Jessica, feeling a wave of anger wash over her.

“I’m ... sorry...”

Peter’s voice trailed off and his eyes closed suddenly.

“Peter?”

The kid didn’t stir.

Shit.  This wasn’t good.

“Peter!” Tried Jessica again.

Even with Luke adding pressure on his wounds, Peter didn’t stir from the pain.

“Kid?”  Luke released his hold on Peter’s injuries and felt for his pulse.

Luke met Jessica’s eyes.  It was that look. _That_ look.

_No. NO. You have got to be shitting with me._

“Peter, you are not dying!  Not like this!” Jessica leaned over Peter again, ready to start CPR again when a near out of breath voice from behind stopped her.

“Jessica, I’ve brought help.”

Looking up, Jessica saw Claire arrive with an asian woman beside her.  The woman wasted no time in introducing herself, however, and instead moved immediately to Peter’s side.  Following closely behind her were several medics with paddles, monitors and a large metal case.

She had no idea who the woman was, but the fact that Claire trusted her, then it was good enough for Jessica.  

She watched with apprehension as they worked on starting the kid’s heart back up again.  The asian woman’s face was filled with concern as she repeatedly upped the voltage for the CPR machine.  It seemed like forever when finally the sound of a steady blip showed that Peter was back, Jessica could breathe again.

Jessica eyed the Asian woman as she delegated the people around her to prepping Peter for what looked like a blood transfusion.  As they lifted Peter up to the stretcher, it was only then Jessica and everyone realized the injury on Peter’s back.

The kid had been injured by the explosion, but Jessica had no idea that Peter had since then re-injured it - this time with glass shards that literally embedded through his back.

_Because of the compressions._

She had literally been pushing the shards _into_ Peter.  Shit. Jessica hadn’t thought about that.

The asian woman paused only for a moment before she told one of her medics to roll Peter to his side.  Another medic passed her a set of tweezers and without any hesitation, she started to pull out the lodged glass in the kid’s back all the while speaking quietly into her a bluetooth headset.

Using just patches of gauze, the asian woman covered the injured area and covered it with medical tape.  

“Okay, he’s ready for transport,” nodding to her team.

They lifted Peter onto a stretcher and the Asian woman began to setup the transfusion, a bag of blood with an IV already connected.  

The woman then looked to them and said, “Please, follow me.”

As they trailed behind the woman and the medical entourage, questions whirled in Jessica’s mind.

Who was she?  She must have been part of Stark’s team, especially with the equipment she seemed to have on hand.

Claire, as if reading her mind, confirmed for her, “She’s a part of Stark’s team.  Doctor Helen Cho.”

“Oh fantastic.  They finally show _now_.  Where the hell have they been all this time?  And Tony Stark, where is he? The last time I talked to him, he sure as hell told me to stay away from the kid because, and I quote, ‘I’ve got the kid’s back”. Don’t tell me, this is his definition of watching over Peter, because I call it bull.”

As if Jessica hadn’t been pissed the whole time, she now just couldn’t contain it anymore.  

Claire shook her head, “I don’t know the details.  All I know is Dr. Cho here was at this park seconds after I got here.  Now, _how_ she knew I was here, I don’t know the answer to that,” said the nurse already knowing her next question.

“If she was tracking Peter, she sure took her time to get here,” muttered Jessica as she clenched and unclenched her bloodstained hands watching the stretcher Peter laid in like a hawk.  

“On that, how did _you_ get here?  This is the opposite side of the river,” asked Jessica questioningly.

“That was thanks to Danny.  He bought the Pier and had someone ferry us across.  I think he also managed to hire a crew to distract the search party so you could get Peter out of the water undetected.”

“Jesus, it’s good to be rich.” To Jessica’s comment, both Luke and Claire chuckled slightly, easing the tension they had felt all night long.

“Danny’s awake, so that’s a good thing.  Colleen? Did he see her?”

“He saw her, she’s still unconscious, in the ICU,” said Luke.

“Where did Foggy go?” Noting the absence of the Lawyer.

“He went to the hospital where Danny’s at; clearing up anymore questions the officers may have,” answered Claire.  “Apparently Detective Graham left in such a hurry, the ones keeping Danny haven’t got the updated report. Karen and Nora are there too, minor cuts and bruises.”

Jessica nodded.  “Makes sense he should be there.”  

They fell into silence suddenly, their eyes watchful as Dr. Cho paused the stretcher to check on Peter’s vitals again.  There was something about the care she took into it that gave Jessica the feeling that the doctor really cared about Peter’s well being, it wasn’t just a ‘job’.  There was a sense of protectiveness.

Finally, they arrived at a large parked white van.  They first lifted Peter in and then followed the medics.  Dr. Cho turned to them then, “My name is Dr. Helen Cho. I know you must have a lot of questions.  I will do the best I can to tell you what I know. We’re going to head to the Stark Compound’s integrated medical facility.”

Jessica nodded and looked to Luke and Claire before she followed the doctor into the vehicle.  Inside the vehicle, she saw firsthand on how advanced Stark’s technology was. Whatever this tech was, it had better help Peter.  The kid looked as white as the sheets that covered him. If it were not for the blip and the small rise and fall of his chest, Jessica would have thought Peter was gone.

As the van started towards the Stark Compound, Jessica’s mind was finally able to process everything.  With Peter’s last words being his ever loyalty to his mentor who hadn’t bothered to come to his aid at all, it made her so much more angrier than before.  God damn it, Jessica could seriously use a drink at this moment.

_Damn you, Tony Stark.  The hell you abandoned your teammates like that, one that you supplied with a super soldier suit and with no visible backup.  You told ME you were watching Peter’s back. This was it? You send a med team to pick up his broken body? Did you see him? Did you see him lying there, on his last breath, talking like you’re some kind of hero to him?  How much he looks up to you? And you can’t be bothered with him, not even for a goddamn second._

Jessica felt Helen’s eyes on her suddenly, as if she could feel the anger that was broiling inside of her.  Did this doctor know what Tony Stark was doing? Recruiting a child to do work that should have been handled by adults?  Not watching out for the kid? Was this a frequent thing?

Well, Jessica figured she would find out now since they were promised an explanation.

_Yeah, some answers would be really nice now, otherwise I seriously will punch something._

And how she would love to pay a visit to Russo and do just that.  

Him first and then Tony Stark not far behind.

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Dr. Helen Cho**

When Helen had boarded the plane in London after an exhausting two weeks in their underground facility with little to no sunlight nor contact to the world outside, she had felt a sigh of relief to finally be headed home.  The signing of the Sokovia Accords, as much as Tony Stark wanted _not_ to follow General Ross’s orders, there were some things he couldn’t avoid.  This one thing of course was the Military leader’s request for the equivalency of the Cradle be also added to the secret Military Base located underground in the outskirts of London, England. Helen had no doubt that Tony had given his typical f-you to the General on it, but just for show at the very least to get the man off his back, he had asked her to go there and “supervise” some medical equipment to be set up.  It wasn't exactly the restorative Cradle, but it would do a good enough job in mending injuries to a certain degree.

Helen understood Tony’s reluctance to share all his technology because he’d seen firsthand on how misuse of it can lead to.  Nevermind that Tony and his father’s legacy had been somewhat built of the blood spilled by the weapons sold to the military over the years.  

After two weeks of dealing with the Military alone, and with a few lab minions to support her, Helen understood her boss’s frustration.  The minute they completed the launch of the medical facility in the new base, she had booked the first flight out. It was too bad it was already night time, so again, she was deprived of sunlight.  Such a small thing to see sunshine, who would have thought she would miss it so much.

On the plane Helen turned off her phone - given that she was constantly on call, she felt she deserved a break - and literally passed out until the flight landed in LaGuardia Airport.  Passing through customs, thankfully hadn’t been too difficult. Crowded, but no mishaps of people trying to rush through or officers tackling anyone. As she made her way through the airport, her phone suddenly rang.

This of course was an oddity because Helen remembered turning it off when she got on the plane. Yet there had been weirder things, and given that this particular phone was STARK tech, it was likely Tony himself trying to get into contact with her.  The man was not shy when it came to wanting something right away. There were times when she was awed at how Pepper Potts handled the billionaire genius. Thinking nothing more, she accepted the unknown caller.

“Hello?”

“Dr. Cho.”

_FRIDAY?_ Helen knew immediately that this could not be a good thing.  The A.I. didn’t just randomly call people, unless something bad had happened.  

Immediately, Helen slipped on her bluetooth headset.

“FRIDAY, is something wrong?”

“I have been repeatedly trying to contact Tony, but I am unable to.  His last location, along with Ms. Potts and Colonel Rhodes were at the RAFT.  Under a instructions by NK21 protocol Tony Stark has initiated at said location, I am currently on lockdown and unable to deploy anything to help Peter Parker unless --”

“What’s happened to Peter?” Interrupted Helen immediately, the weariness she had been feeling earlier disappearing.  

“He is currently located a several meters under the Hudson river,” replied the A.I. switching gears easily.

“No.”

“I am afraid so,” responded FRIDAY not realizing it was a verbal display of shock rather than disbelief.  “According to geolocation settings of several people Tony has flagged in his database, there is rescue available.  However Mr. Parker may need heavy medical attention.”

There was a beat before the A.I. added, “I have taken the liberty of contacting a medic team and they are on standby outside, awaiting to take you to Peter's location.  I will assist in the routing.”

“Good.  Thank you, FRIDAY.”  

There was a small part of Helen that was unsettled on how much the AI knew and what she was able to do, especially given that it was the NK21 protocol that was initiated.  This one, Helen knew to be a high threat protocol, something Tony would have called for if there was a chance of infiltration to the Stark systems. It essentially was a lockdown protocol, and it could only be undone with a special key.  What it was, Helen herself didn’t know. It could very well be a passcode. Or a voice command. Whatever it was, only Tony Stark would know. Which meant one thing, some serious stuff went down at the RAFT, enough for Tony to initiate the protocol.

As Helen got inside the van, the lead medic greeted her and immediately updated her all equipment that was available in the vehicle.  FRIDAY through her headset, continued to also give her more information about the situation. The van roared to life and unsurprisingly, all the traffic lights remained green, allowing them straight no traffic access to Peter’s location.  The kid, thankfully as updated by FRIDAY, was no longer under water, but at a park across the river from Pier 78. The moment the vehicle stopped, she and a number of medics raced to the coordinates the A.I. relayed to them.

So focused on getting to Peter, Helen nearly ran into Claire Temple.  She knew of the woman from Tony’s files, where she was flagged along with a few others in the Hell’s Kitchen area to be associates to vigilantes.  It took only four words for her to get Claire to believe her, “I’m with Tony Stark.” It helped too that she had a entourage of medics with her.

After that, it was just a race to get to Peter in time.  The first thing Helen noticed when she saw the unmoving figure on the ground was the strong copper smell that permeated in the air.  When she came close enough to Peter, she knew how dire his condition was. Racing to the kid’s side, kneeling beside him, she immediately called for the medics to assist her in starting CPR.  

_Damn it.  Peter, who did this to you?_ Thought Helen angrily.  The millions of questions she had, however, had to wait.  What Peter needed now was immediate medical attention.

Snapping to action, Helen worked hard with her team to pull Peter back from the brink of death.  Each time when Peter had no response, Helen had forced down her fear and upped the voltage to the CPR machine.  She felt as if she'd called out _clear!_ one too many times as they pressed the paddles against his chest and sent a rippling shock through the kid.  After what seemed like forever, they finally found a heartbeat.  A weak one, but it was there.  

_Good job, Peter.  Now you just have to keep it up until we get you to the Medical Lab at the Compound.  Do that for me, okay, kid?_

The lead medic passed her a med kit that was customized specifically for Peter.  This was something prepared by Tony since the incident at the Pharmax facility. Aside from including tools and medicine, it also included a section to carry a blood pouch.  The medics had brought along blood drawn from Peter when he had been admitted to their medical facility a few months ago.  Helen remembered Tony saying aloud to no one in particular, "God forbid if the kid ever needs this, at least we have it".  She was seriously felt thankful for her boss's foresight on this matter.

When Helen gave her the team the go ahead to prepare Peter for transport and transfusion, she was surprised when one of the medics cried out while lifting him.  A cut on the man’s hand appeared. Startled, Helen instructed them to lay Peter on his side.

_My God,_ breathed out Helen in shock.  The kid’s back, while there were bandages that wrapped around him, there were also pieces of glass that had literally embedded into his flesh.

The physician in her considered to keep it inside, at least until they returned to the Compound, but then again, there was Peter’s healing factor.  Helen did not want the glass to be healed over the wounds. Yet seeing how much blood loss was happening, she was not even sure if Peter’s healing was working at all.  

Peter’s weakened powers were likely caused by the electrical weapon he was shot with, a detail that FRIDAY filled Helen in about while they were enroute.  The weapon was not any ordinary electrical device that the city cops had gotten ahold of. It was in fact a prototype designed by Tony himself, made to weaken the Spider-Man in the case he were to go rogue.  

This device, however, was _never_ released.  Tony had even placed the design and the weapon under the highest security within the Stark Compound.

Helen, however, had a feeling that Quinn Sharpe must have made a copy of the design and sent it to potential buyers.  Who constructed it or how it had made its way to the NYC department, that was something she would have to figure out later with Tony’s help.

As Helen removed the shards, FRIDAY updated her that the Cradle was prepped and ready for Peter.  Thanking the A.I., she continued focus on removing the shards. Once the last of it was out, Helen took the gauzes passed to her and taped it over the opened wounds.  Even though blood quickly stained through, Helen was not worried. This was just a temporary measure, once they reached the Compound, she would place Peter in the restorative Cradle and the kid would be all healed up.  

Gently laying the kid onto his back, Helen finished setting up the IV and transfusion.  

“Okay, let’s get him to the Compound,” she said to her team of medics.  They nodded and quickly proceeded to carry Peter ahead of Helen, back to the van.

_Hang in there, Peter.  You can do this. Just a little longer._

She glanced at the Defenders team and nodded for them to follow.  She would have to explain the situation to them... well, at least from what she _could_ tell them.  

At the van, she faced them again, and finally introduced herself and promised the explanation that was likely gnawing at the back of their minds.

Inside the van, Helen felt the growing tension and fear from the three Defenders that sat across from her.  Looking at Jessica, Helen knew she was the most angriest of the three. Understandably since she was the one who had performed CPR, seeing the blood stains on her clothes and hands.

“What’s going on?  How did you find us?  Why now? Why so late?  Where is Tony Stark?”

Helen could tell Jessica was trying to hold back her rage by the tone of her voice.  No doubt she blamed Tony. The thing was, Helen really didn’t know if telling all the information she knew at the moment would help her friend and boss at all.  

_Should I mention that Tony designed the weapon that almost killed Peter?  Even if Tony never meant it to be used, it was his design. It was only a prototype to ensure the safety of others...in case if ever Spider-Man went rogue._

It sounded like a good plan, if you ignored the fact that you were talking about taking down a fifteen year-old kid.Yet, according to what FRIDAY told her about how powerful the Spider-Man doppelganger Peter faced off with, a part of Helen couldn’t blame Tony for his fear.  If this had been Peter being compromised somehow, possessed even, there would have been no limits to how much damage he could have caused.

_But Peter wasn’t possessed and had nothing to do with any of the casualties that happened.  He instead put himself on the line so that he could put a stop to the madman and in the process nearly paid for it with his own life._

The more Helen thought about it, the more she dreaded in answering Jessica’s and the remaining Defenders’ questions.  This conversation with the group seriously not going to go down well. Taking a deep breath, and looking straight at the three pairs of expectant eyes on her, she knew she had to tell them what she knew.  

How they took the information, Helen could only hope that they understood - Tony Stark was a person who took contingency plans to make sure people were safe.  He never would have built the prototype to hurt Peter. It would have been a last resort, an absolute last resort.

* * *

When they arrived at the Compound, Helen could still feel the weight of silence behind her as she shifted out of the white van.  The ‘talk’ had gone as well as she expected. They we’re all angry, Jessica Jones the most vocal of them. Either way, Helen would have to smooth things over later.  At the moment, she needed to get Peter to the Cradle asap.

The medics lifted Peter’s stretcher, now attached to gurney, down and they rushed through to the doors of the Stark Compound, Helen and the Defenders only steps behind.  The kid’s vitals had taken a sudden dive minutes ago, making Helen fear for the worse. As they raced to the elevator, she was grateful that FRIDAY had control of the facility, ensuring that the lift doors were open for them.  Every second at this moment counted.

The doors shut quickly as they entered, seconds passed and elevator re-opened on the fifth floor.  Not missing a beat, they raced down the corridor; the wheels on gurney Peter were practically sparking at the speed they were going at.  

Helen could see that in just a few more doors down, the would reach the room where the Restorative Cradle was.  With it having been reworked further post destruction after Vision’s awakening, the kid’s wounds no doubt would be healed.  

_Peter, you’re going to be okay_ , thought Helen.   _We’re almost there, you just have to hang in there._

Heart pounding, Helen was feeling hope again as they neared the lab.

Things were going to be okay for Peter.  

And then suddenly everything went south.

In slow motion it seemed, one by one the medics pushing the gurney lost their footing, and collapsed forward into a crumpled heap.  Helen barely registered what was happening, but by instinct she reached forward to grab Peter’s gurney, but it was too late. Her motor skills were compromised as well, and she found herself falling forward hard at full momentum onto the hard marbled floors.  Behind her, she heard three bodies fall as well.

What was happening?  Was this an Alien attack?  Was this why Tony initiated the protocol?

In horror, as she felt her body shut down, Helen could see from her angle the gurney Peter was on, fly down the corridor and slam at full velocity into a set of equipment at the corner turn of the hallway.  With all the supplies and other equipment there, it caused Peter’s gurney to flip over on its side and the kid, like a rag doll, was tossed to the ground, landing in a sickening thud. The IV and transfusion equipment he was attached to, also toppled over, ripping from Peter’s wrist, splattering blood across the floor, and mixing into the new pool of blood that was forming below the kid’s unconscious form.

No.  No, this wasn’t supposed to happen!  What was going on? Panic was building in Helen, but even with the sheer will in wanting to save Peter Parker’s life, she couldn’t fight the tug of the darkness.  It seemed to wrap around her, pull her, envelop her.

The sounds around Helen became more muffled, as if she were underwater.  FRIDAY, she could hear the A.I. call out to her. Warn her. Peter was dying.  He needed help. They needed help. What can she do to aid them? But no matter how hard Helen tried, she couldn’t respond to the A.I.  The edges of her vision darkened quickly, and soon Helen followed in suite with the others, seeing nothing but darkness.

 

**Oh no... what's going on?  Everyone wondering where Tony Stark has been all this time? You will find out in the next few chapters :P  Thank you guys again for the reviews/kudos!  The support and knowing how much you guys are enjoying this fic as much as I enjoy writing it really brightens my day! :)**


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